Berserker
by 7thManiac
Summary: After being alone and thinking about what he'd done, Shinji Ikari had come to a realization, he made a mistake. Now he wants to fix his mistake, to undo Third Impact. A powerful entity answers his wish, but he must pay a price, to be alone again...so he's sent to a new world where he doesn't know anyone. The first person he meets? A weird female genius with bunny ears!
1. Prologue

**PROLOGUE: THE MAD SCIENTIST AND THE BOY FROM THE END OF DAYS**

 **SHORES OF OKINAWA, JAPAN**

He lay there on the beach with his back against the sand and his face staring up at the calm blue sky. The gentle sound of the ocean's waves and a gentle breeze rustling his clothes was all that can be heard on the calm empty beach.

His name is Shinji Ikari.

Third Child.

Evangelion Pilot.

Student.

Hero.

Slayer of Angels.

Right now though all of those things were far from his mind, right now he's just enjoying the calm weather.

He thought back to how he arrived on this beach...to a time that felt like a dream..no, a nightmare.

He thought back to sitting all alone on another beach in a very different world in a very different time.

 **HHHHHHH**

 ***Flashback***

He didn't know how long he sat on that sandy beach, seemingly staring out at the blood red sea that stretched as far as the eye can see.

He was alone now, the most alone any human has ever been.

Because of Third Impact.

Now all of humanity, except himself, had been rendered into the blood red sea of LCL that he was staring out at.

Realistically he may not even be human anymore. His hair was stark white now instead of the dark brown it used to be. His dark blue eyes now a bright red. Traits all similar to two people who he now knew were not human, Kaoru Nagisa and Rei Ayanami; although Kaoru's hair had been a light grey and Rei's had been a light blue he knew deep inside that he wasn't really human anymore.

In the moments immediately after Impact, his mind was broken, his will and his spirit was shattered. He didn't want to live anymore, why would he?

So he sat there and did all he could do now.

He thought.

About himself, about his father, about NERV and about the shit storm that was his life and for once in his life his brooding actually brought some positive results, he finally started to put his mind back together and get over the terrible things he had to live through.

That said he still wasn't happy so in between searching for clean water and food he roamed the ruble of NERV in search for something, _anything_ to at least partly fix his mistake.

And his life continued that way for a few months.

Until SHE came to him one day as he sat on the beach and stared out at the red ocean that was humanity.

"Shinji-kun," he heard from behind him and he froze. He knew that voice anywhere, that quiet and calm and always composed tone, the angelic voice of Rey Ayanami. First Child of NERV, pilot to Evangelion Prototype Unit-00 and partial clone of his mother.

Who also has the soul of The Second Angel Lilith, the seed that brought life to humanity.

Whipping around he saw her. Pale white skin, piercing red eyes and light blue hair and he couldn't help but smile and cry tears of joy. He'd been alone for who knows how long now and to see a familiar face was almost too much for him.

"Hello Rei," he greeted with a smile to which she gave a small one of her own. He looked out to the sea, the remnant of humanity and sighed. "I messed up didn't I?"

"Is this not what you asked for, Shinji-kun?" She asked with her head slightly cocked to the side. Shinji just sighed a tired sigh, he's asked that same question to himself hundreds of times by now and eventually he did have an answer.

"Yes," he replied.

"Are you not happy?"

"No."

"Why?" And with that question he turned back to her, he knows the answer to that too.

"Because I made a mistake Rei," he answered with conviction. After all that time alone thinking and looking over both his own memories and the flashes of other people's memories during the brief moment of Third Impact he had come to terms with what he'd done.

Did he regret his decision? Of course, he still regrets a lot of what he did and didn't do. He regrets abandoning The Second Child, Asuka the pilot of Unit-02 and letting her get eviscerated by the Mass Produced Evangelions. He regretted not being better friends with her and with Rei. He regrets how Misato died for him when the Japanese Strategic Self Defense Force attacked NERV Headquarters. But he also now knows that crying about it and hating himself won't change anything.

And he also knew that it wasn't all his fault. Asuka could have been friendlier to him, more accepting. Misato shouldn't have ignored Asuka and himself in the later months of the war, when Asuka and Shinji were usually extremely stressed, in favor of dating and sleeping with Kaji. She was their guardian! And that was just the tip of the iceberg.

But that too he had come to deal with...well partially.

' _Time heals all wounds,'_ he thought to himself. Oh he knew he wasn't perfectly ok but how can you be after accidentally ending the world as you know it?

"I see," responded the First Child as she looked slightly to the ground in thought before turning back to The Third Child and asking him a question. "What would you do to fix this? What price would you pay?"

"Anything," he instantly replied with no hesitation. He'd long acknowledged that a lot of what was _his_ fault was because of him being a nervous wreck with no confidence and always hesitating. If he can fix this then he would pay any price.

Rei just smiled.

"You know who I am, don't you?" She asked.

"You're not Rei but Rei and Lilith now aren't you?" He asked although he already knew the answer. His inhuman senses telling and screaming at him that whatever the Rei in front of him was, it was not human.

"Yes," she confirmed. "Would you truly do anything? If I were to use my power to fix this world would you be willing to be alone again? To be away from Asuka and Misato? From your friends? From all the people you would sacrifice yourself for?"

"Yes I would," he replied with conviction.

She smiled and his world was bathed in light.

 **HHHHHHH**

 ***Flashback Over***

He can't help but chuckle at the memory as he looked at the note that he found in his pocket when he first awoke.

Live and be happy. Thank you for teaching me how to smile.

-Rei Ayanami

' _Sending me off to another world? Well I guess I am alone here in a way, I wouldn't know anyone,'_ he mused to himself.

He didn't know how or when Rei/Lilith slipped him the note but he didn't care. He didn't really care how she sent him…to wherever he is now either, after all the Angels tended to defy human logic on a regular basis.

Now he just wants to enjoy some peace in a world that isn't dead.

Eventually he heard somebody walking on the sand and he heard a female voice call out to him.

"Hi ~ Hi ~"

 **HHHHHHH**

Tabane Shinonono is really excited as she walked down the beach. She'd placed a net of different sensors around her current hideout and they'd picked up a huge energy spike and curiosity soon overtook her and decided to see what it was herself.

' _Think of what I might find!'_ She thought to herself, _'an alien! OOooh time traveller…'_

Needless to say her mind was racing at thousands of miles an hour as she searched down the beach.

And then she saw him and for once she was speechless. Lying down in his back in front of her was a boy around her little sister's age wearing a white dress shirt and black trousers, a school uniform of sorts she assumed, and he either hadn't noticed her or just didn't care as he relaxed and took in the good weather. What caught her attention though were two things. The first was his hair; it was a bright white and didn't look natural. The second was the thing that lay on the sand beside him. It was an orb that looked to be made of some kind of opaque blood red crystal like material and was the size of an IS core.

Snapping herself out of her musings she decided to greet the anomaly in front of her.

"Hi ~ Hi ~!" She greeted the boy in front of her in her usual energetic tone which caused him to lean his head back to get a look at her.

And she noticed his eyes and was convinced she's made humanity's first contact with alien life.

' _And without even going to explore space! Although it's strange that he looks mostly human,'_ she thought to herself.

His eyes were a bright red and while most people would've assumed the boy was an albino, most people are not THE genius Tabane Shinonono! She noted that his eyes had some kind of strange inhuman feel to them and she was sure that in low light conditions they would have some kind of glow to them and while his hair was white it didn't seem to be from a lack of pigmentation either.

"Hello," he greeted back with a small smile. The boy for his part was surprised that his first contact in this new world was a strange woman, in her mid-twenties he guessed, dressed in a blue and white vaguely maid like dress. Her hair was waist length and a pinkish-purple colour which had him guessing if that kind of hair colour was common in this version of earth. What really caught his attention though was on top of her head was a pair of mechanical looking bunny ears.

' _Well it seems you've brought me to an interesting place Rei,'_ he mused to himself.

"What are you~?" She asked with her head cocked slightly to the side in a cute and vaguely Rei like gesture. He also noticed her ears move with the motion.

He had to think about the answer to that for a bit.

' _Well she seems to know that I'm not exactly human. Should I tell her the truth?'_ He pondered to himself. And with a mental shrug decided to just wing it for now _._

"A boy from another world," he replied and that caused the woman's eyes to widen and he could just _see_ her excitement as her body and bunny ears started to bounce in place.

"I'm The Genius Tabane Shinonono!" She introduced to herself and he couldn't help but smile, the woman was just so full of energy and it was staring to rub off on him already.

"I'm Shinji Ikari, Slayer of Angels."

 **HHHHHHH**

 **Tabane's Hideout, Japan**

It had been a week since they've met and subsequently took in her mystery house mate. In all honesty she surprised herself when she asked him to stay with her, she didn't really care about anyone outside of her little sister Houki Shinonono, her best friend Chifuyu Orimura and her little brother Ichika Orimura but after their introductions she noticed something.

While he seemed calm and happy, and she knew it was genuine, she could see in his eyes hints of regret and loneliness, there was something else in his eyes that disturbed her but couldn't pin down exactly what it was….yet! She is a genius after all, she'll find out!

Not that that she regretted her decision mind you, having someone like Shinji (or as she nicknamed him Shi-kun) stay with you who can cook on a level that would make less experienced chefs weep in embarrassment was a pleasant surprise.

' _And he's slowly getting better!'_

Truthfully she'd thought of introducing him to Chifuyu and while he may be 10 years younger he was nice and mature for his age and of course his cooking was _damn_ good but eventually decided against it…for now.

He seemed to be full of surprises and he intrigued her to no end. For one he was only 14 years old but seemed to be plenty capable living by himself if he so chose. He seemed to also carry some kind of ability to change his appearance as once she told him she was wanted because of one of her inventions he turned his hair into a dark brown and his eyes into a dark blue before they left the beach, to attract less attention he said.

After they arrived at her lab/hideout/home she decided to let him have some time to acclimatize himself before she would bombard him question, something she decided to do after finishing the breakfast he's currently making. He was surprised by the existence of Infinite Stratos, the powered exoskeletons of her creation and the fact that only women could pilot them led to women becoming more important socially than men.

His reaction led her to the hypothesis that he either came from an alternate reality or a world almost identical in history and evolution to earth. She tossed time traveler out the window when he was surprised by by the lack of certain historic events that didn't seem to happen in this universe. She confirmed this when he asked about a 'Second Impact' which was some kind of catastrophic, almost extinction level event that happened on the 13th of September in the year 2000.

' _OOooh I'm looking forward to this breakfast! First Shi-kun is a good cook! And then I can interview him!'_ She thought to herself as her housemate walked over with breakfast in hand.

"Itadakimasu"

 **HHHHHHH**

After finishing their meal Shinji cleaned up and started to wash the dishes, Tabane-san had told him that she had a robot that she made to do that but he'd insisted on it. He didn't do much over the past week other than learning the history of this new world of his and lazing around with his older housemate.

Not that he's complaining mind you, this reminded him a lot of staying with Misato before Asuka came over except that Tabane had machines to clean up for her and Misato…well was a slob through and through. Tabane also didn't drink and had an infectiously cheery attitude most of the time, all in all it had been the happiest week he's had…in a long long time. Hell in his whole life probably.

Currently Tabane was standing behind him leaning on the fridge with a small notebook laptop cradled on her left arm while using her right to type into it. He knew she was curious about him, he heard her wondering why he introduced himself as a 'Slayer of Angels' once when she was walking to her lab. He didn't mind, from what she'd told him she was a genius and he believed her too.

It was nice of her to let him get his feet on the ground, so to speak, first though.

"So Shi-kun tell me about yourself?" She asked in her usual energetic tone, he couldn't see her though as his back was turned as he did the dishes, he _really_ went all out with their dinner the night before and would probably be stuck at the sink for a couple of hours.

"Hmm," he hummed to himself, where to begin? "You have to tell be a bit more specific Tabane-san," he told her, time to think about himself aside he's still as shy as ever and still not used to talking about himself.

"Well are you an alien?" She asked and he could hear her bouncing with energy on the spot.

Wow to the point right away.

"No not really," he admitted with a chuckle. "I'm from…another earth I guess you could say."

"An alternate reality?"

"Yup"

"Hmmm," she hummed to herself, "well remember the blood sample I took?"

"I do," how could he not? He hated needles, all the poking and prodding NERV did to him only made that worse. Also he was personally interested in the results, he knew he wasn't human but he knew he wasn't a full Angel like Rei/Lilith either.

"Well the blood sample said your 100% human," she told him and he froze for a second in surprise. She didn't miss it either, "Shi-kun?"

"Well I know I _was_ human," he admitted, "my hair used to be dark brown naturally like now and same with my eyes, they used to be the same dark blue colour they are now."

"But now you're forcing them aren't you? It has something to do with…what did you say when we first met?...a 'Slayer of Angels' doesn't it Shi-kun?"

' _She is a genius,'_ he thought to himself and nodded stiffly. He knew the topic of the Angels would come up and by extent the Angel Wars and while he trusted her enough to tell her but didn't know if he _could_ tell her. It's still a sore topic from him, the wounds from those horrors were still fresh and just now starting to close.

And then he thought of something.

"Tabane-san," he said as he dried his hands and turned around.

"Yes Shi-kun?" She could see it on his face, something she hasn't seen on his face before. Pain. This was a _very_ painful topic for him and she slightly regretted bringing it up. In the week they've been living together the young anomaly had grown on her and viewed him in a similar way to a younger brother of sorts. And she did NOT want to see that look on his face again.

"I think I can show you my memories directly," he tells her and he chuckled at her reaction, she was obviously interested with sparkles in her eyes and her bunny ears perked up.

' _Seriously how do they do that?'_ He asked himself.

"Do you trust me?" He asked.

"Of course," she responded.

So he walked up to her gently held her head with both his hands and touched their foreheads together. Now that he knows what A.T. Fields are and how they work and using the knowledge of Third Impact in theory he should be able to share memories with her. During Impact the complete negation of humanity's A.T. Fields meant that the personal boundaries stopped existing and all humanity became one. Hell he got flashes of other people's memories before he rejected Third Impact.

Angels though could survive without an A.T. Field, combat proved that since after negating an Angel's Field the Evangelions still had to kill them. The thing is though Tabane just told him he has the body of a human...at least on a genetic level. But since he could _feel_ his own inhumanity, hell he changed his own eye and hair colour, he knew he was more.

Did it have to do with his soul? Did impact change it to something similar to the Angels?

Well hopefully he won't turn to goo.

' _Here goes nothing!'_

 **HHHHHHH**

*FLASH*

Tabane blinked a few times and she found herself in an environment she knew very well, it was a laboratory. She somehow knew that Shinji is sharing her memories with her and she felt touched, to be trusted this much by the young boy.

She shook her head, _'concentrate on what he's showing you Tabane!'_

Looking around she noticed one wall was made of glass and she figured she was in an observation room of sorts. She knew where she was, thanks to Shinji's knowledge.

' _This is one of…GEHIRN's laboratories in Japan,'_ she thought as she looked around.

"Mama!" she heard a small voice cry out and looking down to her right was the cute sight of a young Shinji Ikari smushing his face against the glass. Following his sight down through the glass and she saw a woman with short brown hair and emerald green eyes in a white form fitting suit that resembled a wet suit.

' _His mother, Yui Ikari,'_ she thought to herself as she watched the woman step into a white capsule she knew was called an 'entry plug' which disappeared into a structure covered in a white tarp. She searched the background knowledge of his world Shinji's gave her through their link and found that the machine she was test piloting was called an Evangelion, and this one is the Test Type, named Unit-01.

' _Is this similar to IS?'_ She wondered though taking note of the fact that the naming of these machines were nowhere near as creative as what different people call IS units.

"A-10 contact!" She heard a scientist call out.

' _Direct neural interface? Impressive but risky.'_

*WOOT! WOOT!*

Klaxons snaped her from her musings.

"MAMA! What's happening?!" She could hear the young version of her housemate call out in panic.

 **HHHHHHH**

*GASP*

Tabane took a deep breath as Shinji walked her out of the kitchen and into the living room and onto a sofa. They were both breathing hard but for different reasons.

Shinji was so tired from concentrating that his hair was white and his eyes were red again as he couldn't concentrate on his own appearance at the moment. His little experiment really tired him out. He had to keep his A.T. Field down, concentrate on his individuality while concentrating on the specific memories to show her and a few memories to give her background knowledge such as Second Impact, world history, Adam and Lilith.

He had to be careful what to show her too. He decided to show her the initial activation of Unit-01 and his father's subsequent abandonment of him. He also showed when he was recalled to Tokyo-3 as a tool to pilot Unit-01 and the subsequent battle with the Third Angel Sachiel. He showed her the battle with Shamshel, Ramiel, Gaghiel, Israfel (both times), Sandalphon, Matarael, Sahaquiel, Leliel and Zeruel.

He left out Iruel as he and the pilots weren't really involved.

He was careful not to show the battle with Bardiel because he didn't want her to see anything that brutally violent and personally he didn't want to relive the feeling of tearing the infected Unit-03 apart either. Although he did give her the knowledge of the battle's out come.

Arael and Armisael also had negative emotions for him so he didn't show her them either just giving her knowledge of the outcome and effects.

Tabris…also known as his friend Kaoru Nagisa, the last Angel who also took human form and the first person to have loved him without asking for anything in return, needless to say he didn't show her that battle and just gave her knowledge of the outcome.

The JSSDF attack on NERV, Asuka's last stand against the Mass Produced Evangelions, her subsequent defeat and Third Impact…well again he just gave her a loose knowledge of events. He didn't want to scar her more than the battles with the Angels might have already by showing her exactly what happened.

Tabane was reeling from the sheer amount of information. She just witnessed humanity's last stand against monsters of, literally, biblical proportions. The Angels, beings of sheer will, who shaped their very existence with a thought. Who could take on armies and nuclear level firepower in stride.

' _It does explain how he change his appearance though,'_ she thought, _'if he has the soul of an Angel then that would explain why he can change his appearance temporarily at will.'_

She also now knew the young boy-no the young man she's currently living with was a soldier of sorts. That at an age younger than her little sister, who was at the time and is still currently enjoying a normal life in school, was forced to step into the Evangelions to face off against the harbingers of the end times.

And then there were the Evangelions or Evas themselves, 40 metre tall biomechanical constructs made to fight the Angels…and each one housing the soul of the pilot's mother. And that was a revelation, the soul was real! It actually existed!

' _Although the fact that Shi-kun saw the 'death' of his mother and was the pilot of the monster that was her prison...how cruel,'_ she thought with a grimace.

Of course there was the Angels themselves, each battle was horrifying. It wasn't the same as the battles between IS that women in her world participate in, those were for sport. Each battle with an Angel was a frenetic and desperate struggle against an unpredictable enemy. And each pilot felt every hit.

' _Speared through the cranium, limbs snapped, stabbed, cut, burned, blasted,'_ she had to shake her head at the thought of the sheer amount of injuries he's received, not felt, _received_ as she knew while most of the time the damage wasn't transfered the pilots felt them as if they were real.

And sometimes they did manifest to painful results.

She also saw how the pilots suffered from, "phantom pain" which were caused by the confused neurons in the brain remembering the pain experienced in combat. It would explain when he seemed to stiffen in pain.

 _'I should have seen it sooner! Note, make or find medication to counter phantom pain episodes,'_ she made a mental note.

She also thanked him for not showing her certain battles and events, even with just the knowledge of the outcomes she was shocked from the sheer violence and horror that happened in his world. She hoped her world would never see anything even similar.

"Tabane-san, are you ok?" she heard him ask with obvious concern, seeing her sweating and panting.

"Shouldn't I be asking you that, Shi-kun?" She asked him with a sad smile and as she looked into his red eyes she could finally identify _what_ she saw. It was the loss of innocence, the innocence she could see in her sister and Ichika's eyes weren't there, long burned out. He had the eyes of somebody who had seen and ran through the gauntlet of hell.

Who had seen REAL monsters.

Who had seen his world die.

She moved closer and hugged him, burying her face into his shoulder...to comfort him? To comfort herself? She didn't know, probably both.

And she cried.

For his lost innocence.

For his lost childhood.

And for the horrors he lived through.

Then she remembered the face of pain she saw earlier that day in the kitchen. The look of pain.

She did not want to see that face on him again.

EVER.

And from that moment on she swore to try to give him a happy life.

God knows he deserves it.

 **HHHHHHH**

"SHIIII-KUUUuuuun!" He heard Tabane shout out from her lab and he couldn't but smile and shake his head. The woman was a never ending well of energy.

"I'm coming Tabane-nee!" He responded as he walked into her private lab.

Even after living with her for five months his older sister figure still amazed him with her energy and constantly cheerful personality.

"What do you think? Well? Well?" She asked bouncing with energy as she motioned at the machine she was standing beside.

It was an IS, his IS, how she managed to make an IS that can be piloted by a man he didn't know but he assumed that the core was the reason. It was a brand new core, the first one she'd made in years but this one is special. She used the red orb that he woke up with on the beach as a base, it was the core of his Eva, of Unit-01…or at least what was left.

The core was empty, he could tell, his mother wasn't in it anymore but that was fine with him. He's happy to know that his IS is just a machine and hoped she was at peace.

"I like it Tabane-nee," he replied with the smile. In front of him, keeling like a knight to its king, was his own personal machine. It was a nostalgic sight, she designed it with his Eva in mind and he couldn't help but smile even wider seeing the violet armor with neon green and black highlights. It's limbs were slimmer than a usual IS' and lacked any flashy wings which gave it a sleeker look than most IS units.

She could see his happiness and she smiled even more….somehow. "I knew you'd like it Shi-kun! It's a fourth generation unit! One of the most advanced in the world! Nothing but the best for my little Shi-kun when he goes to IS Academy!" She exclaimed as she glomped on to him.

He couldn't help but laugh at her antics as he tried to chastise her, "Tabane-nee, if I didn't have enhanced strength due to my Angel traits I would've fallen over!"

That was another thing she decided to do in their time living together, Shinji should go to IS Academy. Once they discovered that Unit-01's core could be used to make an IS he decided it would be a waste not to use his potential and going to IS Academy would be a good opportunity to make friends and continue his education, three birds one stone.

Although it took a whole lot of pouting and poking and prodding from Tabane to convince him to go once he realized he would be the _only_ male in school. He just prayed he didn't meet anyone as pushy as Asuka, while he may have loved her and is ultimately glad to have known the fiery red-head, she was still hard to handle at times.

"Mou," she pouted but let go to continue her explanation. " fine I'll let go. *Ahem!* Anyway I've optimized it for general purpose combat so you should have no problem in combat at any range. I've also loaded your unit's inventory with approximations of your Evas weapons. Progressive Knives, Sonic Glaive, Smash Hawk, Counter Sword, Pallet Rifles, Sniper Rifle and a few special surprises!"

She listed the weapons with a manic grin, a grin Shinji shared. She _really_ enjoyed developing the melee and "special" weapons as they were really different to what most IS units use. It also helped that Shinji also helped in their development, granted she had to put him through a crash course in engineering and programming but it was good bonding for the two.

He also proved to be a fast learner.

"I hope you plan on taking me with you young master?," a feminine voice called out.

Shinji pulled out his phone and smiled as he answered, "of course, we'll get you transferred to my IS in a few minutes Iruel."

She was his pet project for the last five months. A mix of his programming creativity, Tabane's genius, and some of the memories he grabbed from Dr. Ritsuko Akagi during Impact. According to Tabane she's the most advanced artificial intelligence in existence. There are some with more computing horse power but thanks to his use of some of the theory behind NERV's MAGI supercomputers, she's sentient. He would have gotten recognition for it for sure, a truly ALIVE artificial intelligence, the first ever.

But he didn't want to be wanted because of some super advanced invention like his sister is. He just wanted a cool A.I. companion like in some of the games Asuka used to play.

Needless to say she was proud of her Shi-kun when he revealed his finished project to her. When asked about the name he revealed that he named her after the Eleventh Angel, Iruel the Angel of Fear since that Angel mimicked a computer virus. It was also the only Angel none of the three pilots fought and therefore he had no animosity for it.

"So Shi-kun! For your IS, have a name picked out?" Tabane asked.

He smiled, oh he knew _exactly_ what to name her.

 **NEXT ON BERSERKER: CHAPTER 1: A BOY IS PILOT?!**

 **A/N:**

Hey guys! So I noticed that there weren't any ISxEva stories that were alive so I decided to give it a go! And to all those wondering then yes, Ichika will still play a big part in events in this story but it will focus on the life and times of Shinji Ikari.

To any IS fans new to eva lore and are curious about the angel battles do not worry! Tabane is not going to be the only person Shinji will become close enough to trust and show his memories and she will see them in all their glory. So I'm gonna use that chance to go over the individual battles more clearly and also talk about the memories that Shinji hasn't shown off to Tabane.

And if you're a reader of mine already, from Toy Soldier, no that story is NOT dead. It is still my main focus but I've had a few ideas nag at me and since I'm having a tough time writing Chapter 2 of Toy Soldier I decided to write this and some other stuff while I work it out.

OK guys, peace out!


	2. A Boy Is A Pilot?

**CHAPTER 1: A BOY IS PILOT?!**

 **Tabane's Lab, Okinawa, Japan**

"Yaaay~! Good job Shi-kun!" Tabane squealed at Shinji. After naming his Infinite Stratos, or IS, unit she had spent the last few days making 'last minute touches' to his unit to his slight amusement. He knew Tabane had always been…very zealous with her work and whatever she set her mind to. Even if it was something so minor as cosmetic adjustments to his new IS, once she heard its name and realized his reasoning she had spent even _more_ time making it resemble his Evangelion.

She _really_ tended to focus on the weirdest things in his opinion.

He really hoped _that_ part of her hadn't rubbed off on him.

Now though he couldn't help but smile as he looked up at his sister, he was lying down on his back on her lab's cold hard floor and she was standing over him.

And she was his _real_ sister now.

She had asked her father to adopt him into the family proper; how she managed to contact him while being one of the most wanted people on earth he had no idea but had decided to stop questioning Tabane many months ago. Regardless he was happy to be related, even if only on paper, to someone who cared about him. Hell he even threw away the Ikari name, he was no longer connected to _that_ man.

"Thank you Tabane-nee," he thanked her quietly, he was too tired to speak loudly. "I have to ask though…why in the world did the drones use _live_ ammunition?" he asked with a smile and a slight twitch in his brow.

"You wouldn't have done so well without danger!" She exclaimed with a fist in the air. He couldn't help but sigh.

He had just finished his first sortie in his IS, more of a test flight really…or at least that was the plan.

' _Until she sent out those damn combat drones,'_ he thought to himself. Around an hour into the test, Tabane sent out combat drones. They were a pet project of theirs actually, the first prototypes to a future upgrade to his IS. And since they were on their fourth generation of prototypes Tabane decided, without asking him of course, to send out the older models against him.

But what really upset him was the fact he wasn't even armed so he had to tear them apart with the IS unit's own hands, it reminded him a bit too much for his liking of how...brutal combat was in an Evangelion.

But while it was slightly terrifying being shot at the danger gave a sense of urgency which helped him achieve something that he thought would have taken a few more sorties.

First Shift, and now he had that his IS was fully prepared for IS Academy.

He wasn't though, with women now holding a higher standing in society due to women being the only ones that can pilot an IS…well before him, he feared that he would inadvertently hurt someone's pride because of his presence…he _really_ didn't want another Asuka. Yes he may have had feelings for her before and the lingering fondness and feelings for her he doubted would ever disappear but she was hard as all hell to deal with sometimes.

"So excited to go to IS Academy, Shi-kun?" She asked him as she sat down beside him.

And after a minute to think he answered, "Nervous but yes I am."

"That's good! Make some friends…meet some girls~!" She said excitedly, putting emphasis on the part of the girls. Shinji couldn't help but blush even though he rolled his eyes.

' _It would be nice to have a girlfriend,'_ he thought to himself. Ever since coming to this world he had decided to try and live a normal life…well as normal as being a male IS pilot…who was also kind of not human…and who was from a different dimension…and an ex-child soldier…who also almost ended his own world…and was willing to exile himself into eternal loneliness if he could fix his mistake.

Yeah, he had already concluded that being 'normal' for him would be relative.

He also remembered how some of his classmates, the male ones, would talk about harems of beautiful women but that was unrealistic; that happened in mangas and anime and as crazy as his life was there had to be a limit to the crazy…right?

"But…"he trailed off.

"But?" she asked with her head slightly tilted to the side.

"I'll miss you Tabane-nee" he admitted and it was true, he loved her dearly. She had been with him since literally since his first day in this world and had helped him out to the point that he was sure he wouldn't be able to repay her. She had given him a family, a home, fed him, taught him about this new world, taught him engineering and computer science, and even made him one of the most advanced weapon systems in the world.

"I'll miss you too little brother," she told him with a gentle smile, "but don't worry! I'll drop by to visit you~!"

"Pfft haha of course, I'll look forward to it."

"Ne Shinji, here," she handed him a paper bag so he sat up and opened it, wondering what was inside.

"This is…" he trailed off and inside was a bottle of pills, "umm…ok what is it?"

"For your…episodes," she pointed out.

"Ah…" and he knew what she was talking about instantly. It was something he had lived with for some time now and frankly he had just thought it was something he had to live with.

Phantom pain

It was a fact of life all of the Evangelion pilots had to live with, or at least Asuka and he did, they had seen each other suffering from it quietly while they lived with each other at Misato's apartment. Rei never talked much about herself so he never got the chance to know if she suffered from it as well but he saw no reason why she wouldn't. Phantom pain is exactly as it sounded, it was a phantom, a ghost. Pain suffered by the Eva and felt by the pilot during combat and every now and then it would come back like a ghostly echo of their suffering.

Luckily, especially for him as he had seen the most combat, the episodes of phantom pain tended to be only be one injury at best and at worst it was only the pain from one battle.

He wasn't so sure if he could live with feeling everything at once.

Tabane had seen him have, what appeared to her to be, a seizure a few weeks into their cohabitation, of course he had been suffering from it since before the day he arrived but had been able to hide it well until then. She then thoroughly interrogated him about his condition and had vowed to come up with a solution.

"Thank you," he whispered, starting to cry tears of joy. He had given up hope and had resigned to just living with it.

"Take one pill a day right when you wake up, it should last you the whole day but it will wear off something while you're asleep," she explained.

Well it wasn't perfect, he knew he would be waking up because of an episode from time to time but he didn't care, he still had nightmares so not having good sleep wasn't too bad and besides that was much better than suffering from anywhere from every other day to a few times a day.

God forbid he had an episode while piloting his IS in a match or worse combat.

 **HHHHHHH**

 **IS Academy, Japan**

' _Well so far so normal,'_ Shinji thought to himself as he sat outside the principal's office. It was his first day today at the, previously, all-girls IS Academy and was nervous…just a tiny bit.

And he was nervous for a number of different reasons, some of which he knew was nonsense.

Number one was the last time he transferred in to a school was Tokyo-3 Middle School and…well that was also the day that Toji punched him in the face when he transferred in because his sister was hurt during his first battle in Unit-01. He knew worrying about being punched because of a battle was nonsense; Angels didn't exist here to his knowledge and his test sorties in his IS were in secret, but it was still the only time he really remembered transferring into a school

The second was also related to his previous world. When he transferred into Tokyo-3 Middle School he had, foolishly, admitted to being an Evangelion pilot. Toji aside, he had been mobbed by his class soon afterwards as they bombarded him with questions…it was overwhelming for the shy boy. And now it might be worse, the class at Tokyo-3 had known Rei was a pilot but here…now…well he was the first ever male to be able to pilot an IS unit.

And now he's going to a school whose entire population are girls…many of whom, according to Tabane, have been brought up in all-girl schools. Needless to say he knew he would garner a LOT of attention.

Third he was now going to be in a first year high school class since all new IS pilots had to start at first year, this school's focus is on IS after all so they didn't care how old you were. And he was 14 and would be one year younger than everyone else, while he was absolutely confident in his IS knowledge since he was taught in their use by their genius creator, he was worried about his normal education.

Life as an Evangelion pilot meant that the three pilots didn't really have time to spend on school. Rei did well since she had laser like focus and nothing to do at home and Asuka already had a university degree but he? He was just a normal boy…well compared to the other two on an academic basis.

Fourth and last reason was surprisingly…normal. He was simply nervous of being in a new place and meeting new people. Would they look down on him? Would they hate him? Would they be nice to him?

All those things were swimming in his mind but he shook his head to clear it as the principal walked out of his office and handed him his schedule and class placement.

"I'm sorry but I'm sure you understand how much work there is when the school year is starting," said the principal as he walked up to him and held out his hand. He was an older man, in his sixties he guessed, with white hair swept back and dressed in a business suit. What made an impression on him though was his face; he had the look of a kind grandfather and a smile to match.

He would have been surprised if he hadn't heard from Tabane about him, since to the outside world his wife was the principal but he was the one who really ran the school. He also had no doubt that most students thought his wife ran the school too.

"Ah, no I understand sir," he said as he stood up and shook his hand and then stood in attention. During his time at NERV he and the other pilots didn't really function like most United Nations Military personnel. They went to school, didn't have a rank and didn't really follow the chain of command either. That being said they were given lessons by Misato on how to act properly in a military setting, they never used it but now he decided to since even though IS units were not used in warfare it was a possible use for them as military units did posses them.

Plus he didn't really know how IS Academy functioned, was it like a specialized civilian school? Or, since all pilots were sponsored by their respective governments to an extent (especially the representative candidates) did it run like a military school? Granted he wasn't, sure on paper he was a Japanese citizen but he was here thanks to Tabane, not some old pencil pushers.

So being clueless he decided to pull out all the stops and make a good impression by falling back to the limited military discipline he knew.

"At ease Mr. Shinonono," he told him with some obvious amusement and he did as he was told. "My my I did not expect the younger brother of Tabane to be so disciplined."

"I just wanted to make a good first impression," he admitted with a smile and a shrug as the dean handed him his schedule and class placement.

"I am the principal of IS Academy here in Japan, Juuzou Kutsuwagi, do you need help finding your class?"

"No sir but thank you," Shinji said as he lifted his left arm and pushed up his sleeve to reveal the blued stainless steel watch on his wrist. The principal raised a brow in curiosity, Shinji wasn't surprised since it seemed analog watches were rarer in this more technologically advanced universe; he just thought it looked better and more sophisticated. It wasn't a normal watch either, it was the stand-by mode of his IS and the new home of his trusty artificial intelligence Iruel.

A transparent 3D holographic image of the school flickered to life from the watch's face showing Shinji's location in the waiting room outside the principal's office and his classroom.

"I see," said the principal with a smile. "Good day Mr. Shinonono."

"Good day principal," returned Shinji and he made his way to his class room.

 **HHHHHHH**

Currently Shinji was trying his best to appear calm as can be, and was doing an actual good job. Granted he was doing it by doing what his father did, by putting his elbows on his desk and tenting his hands in front of him and having a blank look on his face.

Why was he trying to stay calm?

Because right now he was sitting in a class room full of women, and sitting in the middle of the front row didn't help. Women who were staring so intently into the back of his head that he couldn't help but wonder why he didn't feel the back of his skull burning from their stares.

In short, he felt like a piece of raw Grade-A Kobe beef…tied onto the back of a small kitten...and thrown into a den full of wolves.

He was glad though for the person that sat on to his right though. He was _also_ a boy, Ichika Orimura. He hadn't heard about him activating an IS somehow, he hadn't really watched the news in the last few weeks as he prepared to go to IS Academy since he knew he would be attending the boarding school for four years and needed to be ready. He knew Tabane knew but…

' _I bet she didn't even think about letting me know…wanted me to be surprised I'm sure,'_ he thought to himself with a sigh.

Still it was nice to have another guy with him.

Speaking of Ichika he looked _very_ uncomfortable from the attention as well. Shinji wondered if Ichika, who had brown hair and brown eyes, would need to change clothes after class with all the sweating he was doing.

Speaking of clothes Shinji was happy that the male uniform was actually nice, not like the boring one he wore in Tokyo-3 Middle. His favorite part was the blazer that made up the top of the unform; it was a stylish white jacket with a black collar and red trim, which Shinji wore a black dress shirt and white tie underneath. The uniform was finished with white pants and black shoes, the female version was similar but exchanging the pants with a white skirt with black trim.

The classroom was nice too, the black board was replaced with a huge touch screen and most of the desk's surface was a touch screen too…needless to say he had had Iruel hack into his desk already so it could act as a terminal for her.

He was snapped out of his thoughts as a teacher walked into the room. She was a young and sweet looking woman with shoulder length green hair and a…uh noticeable bust.

' _Well it seems that crazy hair colours really are the norm in this universe,'_ Shinji decided.

She wore a yellow short sleeved dress and knee length brown boots and thin framed glasses were worn on her face, framing her emerald green eyes. She seemed like a sweet woman to Shinji, infinitely more likeable than his crusty old teacher back in his old world.

"Hello everyone, my name is Maya Yamada and I am your assistant teacher," she introduced herself.

' _Assistant? We have more than one teacher?'_ Shinji wondered.

"O-ok…so let's do some self-introductions!"

And so started self-introductions, it was done in alphabetical order with each student going up to the front to introduce themselves. Back in Tokyo-3 he wouldn't have paid any attention, opting for spacing out instead. Now though he wanted to be friendly, make at least one friend without being punched in the face so he listened.

After around a dozen girls came his fellow male.

"Orimura! Ichicka Orimura-kun!" The teacher said loudly. It seemed his fellow man had been spacing out…badly.

' _Even I never spaced out that bad,'_ Shinji chuckled inside.

"Y-yes!" Ichika said as he made his way to the front of the room. "My name is Ichika Orimura…that is all!"

Almost the entire class face faulted at that, Shinji had rested his chin on his left hand and his head fell onto his desk because of that. As he went back to his prior position he saw a message pop onto his desk's screen.

[11th: ARE OK YOUNG MASTER?]

He smiled, Iruel had always been a tad bit protective ever since she learned his past.

[SAS: YES, I AM FINE, THANK YOU]

"What was it that bad?" Ichika asked the class.

' _Oh yeah, it was,'_ Shinji thought with a smile and made a note to himself to try and be friends with him. _'Well look at me trying to be social for once, Misato-san would be proud.'_

*SMACK!*

A fist collided with the top of Ichika's head. Shinji traced the fist back to its source and saw a person even he recognized. Chifuyu Orimura, one of the best and still probably one of the best IS pilots around and former champion of the Mondo Grosso where the best IS pilots compete. She had dark brown eyes and had hip length black hair which was tied at the back in a loose pony-tail and dressed in a black suit with white dress shirt and tie, black dress skirt, black stockings and black heels. Shinji thought she was beautiful if a bit intimidating, she seemed to be all business. He did wonder what she was like outside of work though, Misato was similar when in her 'work-mode' at NERV but was a sloppy drunk at home.

Besides he knew she and Tabane are best friends and anyone who can put up with his sister to the level that he could couldn't be that bad.

"Chifuyu-nee?" Ichika asked.

*SMACK!*

"Call me Orimura-sensei in class."

"Ah, Orimura-sensei, is the meeting over?" the other teacher asked.

"Yes it is Yamada-kun," she answered in a tone Shinji noticed was warm and friendly and confirmed that she wasn't a bad person to him. "Sorry for making you handle the introduction so far."

"It's ok," the green haired woman responded as she stepped off the podium and sat to the side as Chifuyu took her place.

"Alright, everyone listen up! My name is Chifuyu Orimura, I'll be teaching your class this year and I expect the best from you and for you to understand what I'm teaching. If you understand say yes, if you don't say yes anyway!"

Shinji couldn't smile a bit in amusement, something Chifuyu saw but ignored for the moment. She reminded him a bit of some of the UN drill sergeants he'd seen providing security for the sniping platform of Unit-01 during the battle with the Fifth Angel, Ramiel the Angel of Thunder.

His classmates' response though…

"KYAAAA! Chifuyu-sama!"

"I'm so happy to be in your class, Onee-sama!"

"Chifuyu-sama~~~~!"

"Please scold me!"

"ME TOO!"

"It's amazing how many of these idiots come every year. Do they put them all in my class on purpose?" Chifuyu said with a sigh and obvious disappointment and annoyance.

And so the self-introductions continued, there weren't any girls that caught his attention except three people.

One was one of the first people who introduced themselves. She was a blond girl named Cecilia Alcott, Iruel automatically did background searches on all students for interesting information and thanks to her Shinji found out that Cecilia Alcott was England's IS Representative Candidate, making her the best 1st Year student from her nation. She had long blonde hair, blue eyes and a blue hair band. She wore the standard IS Academy uniform but her skirt was longer and her skirt and blazer sleeves had black frills and she also wore black leggings and brown shoes.

What he caught on the most though was her attitude. It was _very_ similar to Asuka's, she was extremely prideful and seemed to look down on everyone. He knew that would end up with her isolated, Asuka didn't have any friends but Hikari and that was because her position of class representative meant she had to talk to Asuka, the other students were too intimidated to get close to her. She also looked at Ichika and Shinji with…anger? Frustration? Hate?

' _Great ANOTHER Asuka and not in a good way,'_ Shinji mentally groaned to himself.

The second girl was Honne Nohotoke, she was a girl with pinkish hair ( _more proof of weird hair colour_ ) which was somewhat long with two cute pigtails tied up with fox themed clips. She had hazel brown eyes although she seemed to smile so much that her eyes seemed closed most of the time. She was extremely cheerful and energetic and reminded Shinji of Tabane without the crazy. People like her, like Tabane and Misato always appealed to him; they were outgoing and so full of life, something he wanted to be like.

' _I wonder if we can become friends?'_ he wondered as she introduced herself. He also hoped she didn't notice him, accidentally, staring at the energetic girl.

She did but that's for later.

The last was the girl who just introduced herself.

Houki Shinonono, the younger sister of Tabane Shinonono and now his one year older…well older sister. Shinji made a note to talk to her as well, she was his family now and as someone who had always ALWAYS desperately wanted a loving family he wouldn't let the chance to have another sister slip.

Houki had long light brown hair (making Shinji wonder how in the world Tabane had pinkish purple hair) and dark blue eyes, even darker than his own. She wore the standard women's uniform except for the white and red ribbon she used to tie her hair back.

And now it was his turn.

He got up before the teacher could even look down to read his name, Chifuyu raised a brow in a questioning look and he gave her a small smile in return.

Honestly he was nervous, his heart was pounding in his chest but he was also slightly excited, this was his new start in life after all. So he decided to take a page out of his older sister's book, surprise, he'd surprise everyone with who he is and wing it.

' _Fortune favours the bold right?'_ he thought as he reached the front of the room and looked out to see the rest of his class.

' _Interesting kid,'_ Chifuyu thought. Shinji had her attention when she walked in, after all he was a boy who could pilot an IS, the only other one other than her little brother. She also didn't know anything about him, unlike Ichika he didn't become big news which she found suspicious. Then there was the amused smile she saw after her little speech and what he did just now, it all made her curious.

Shinji took a deep breath.

"Hello everyone, I'm 14 and my name is Shinji Ayanami Shinonono, nice to meet you all," he said with a smile. He liked his new name, he didn't want to keep 'Ikari' as it reminded him of his father so he took his mother's maiden name. Then Tabane wanted him adopted and so Ayanami had become his middle name, it also served as a good reminder to his fellow Evangelion pilot, fellow Angel hybrid and half-sister Rei Ayanami.

The class exploded into excitement.

"Shinonono?!"

"The genius Tabane had a brother?"

"We have both male pilots in our class!"

"A younger guy!"

"He's cute guehehehehe!"

"KYAAA! A bishonen!"

Those bishonen comments made him chuckle awkwardly.

Ichika was surprised that Tabane had a brother that he didn't know but was glad for another male around and looked at the other Shinonono in the room, Houki who was his childhood friend and wondered why she never mentioned a brother.

Houki was also surprised. _'What…what?! I don't have a brother…Tabane what did you do?'_

Chifuyu was also surprised but did not show it. Tabane was her best friend and made a mental note to call her later to ask about the boy. _'Interesting kid…but something about those eyes…'_

And after the class calmed down the girls bombarded him with questions. They asked him about his hobbies, which he responded with playing the celo and cooking. His favorite colour which was purple, green and black. What kind of girls he liked and that was all he could make out before the voices overlapped and he couldn't understand individual questions anymore.

Chifuyu silenced the girls by seemingly smacking them all of them in the head at the same time.

 **HHHHHHH**

With home room done and the students left to take a break Chifuyu headed off to her quarters which were at the first year dormitories since she was also in charge there as the supervisor.

' _Well this should be an interesting year,'_ she thought to herself as walked up to her door. She was happy to have her brother around. Sure she had to be professional as his teacher and not play favorites but it would be…nice to be able to even _see_ him on a daily basis. Her life had been busy as all hell in recent years with her being a military instructor in Germany a few years ago and then working at IS Academy, she barely had time to go home and see the _only_ family she had left.

Their parents abandoned them so they don't count.

Then there was the blond English girl, she was a representative, should be interesting seeing how good the younger generation is. Houki was in her class as well, she would look out for her, Tabane would want that and while she hadn't seen the eccentric bunny eared mad scientist in a while they were and still are best friends.

Strange friends yes but best friends nonetheless.

And besides she was a good friend to her little brother and she hoped they would she would be again.

' _Maybe beat some sense into him,'_ she thought to herself. _Literally_ beat it into him that is, she was a national kendo champion after all.

Speaking of the Shinonono family, there was that other boy that could pilot an IS and he peaked her curiosity.

Shinji Ayanami Shinonono

He was a ghost as far as she was concerned. Tabane had never mentioned a little brother and she had never seen him and she had visited the Shinonono family many many times with her brother when they were younger. And why had he not become big news? The moment Ichika had become a male pilot the international media exploded the story.

It wouldn't surprise her if some of his friends, like that Chinese girl he had become close with after Houki moved, would come to the Academy to be with him or at least visit. No, she hadn't even heard about another male pilot until the staff meeting that morning, hell they didn't even know his name since the principal was so insistent on it being a surprise.

She didn't even know if he took the entrance test.

' _And now with him at IS Academy now he won't become well known outside of the IS community until his graduation….someone wants him hidden,'_ she deducted. One of the advantages of attending is that students are protected from outside influences like national governments and corporations.

And there was his behaviour. He was surprised to see Houki and Houki him which was strange since they're siblings and he's only 14, one year younger so she should have played with him at some point. And then there was the way he behaved. There was a subtle nervousness to him, one she was sure only she and Yamada had noticed but when she did her little speech in the style of being a military instructor he smiled even though she could see he was a bit intimidated. It was a smile of amusement and nostalgia which was curious.

And there was those eyes…there was _something_ there, something unnerving about them…something missing and it annoyed her to no end that she couldn't place what it was. She wasn't exactly a people person, she preferred having a few close friends but she was really good at reading people.

And most weird of all she didn't know where he was staying, for some reason her brother was being assigned a room with Houki.

Sighing in annoyance at the young anomaly that popped into her class she opened her door…and froze.

"…"

Her quarters at the first year dormitories were more like an apartment than a dorm room. Granted the students had nice rooms as well. Students had a spacious central room and two beds with night stands, two study desks, a wall mounted flat screen plasma television, wireless internet _and_ Ethernet cable ports, a large bathroom and a kitchen along with a table and four chairs. Her room though had a living room, two smaller rooms (one she used as a bedroom and one was empty), a balcony, a large kitchen and it was fully furnished along with enough options to connect to the internet she could run the space program from her room with the correct equipment.

She had just moved in though as her room was a part of a recently finished extension of the first year dorms…

' _So why is there luggage here?!'_ she thought to herself. In her room was a small pile of luggage that she knew wasn't hers. They were all purple, she didn't even really like that colour.

And then she saw _her_ sitting on the couch in the living room, Tabane Shinonono in her usual blue maid-ish dress and mechanical bunny ears and a smile on her face.

"Hello~! Chi-chan!" the scientist exclaimed as she leapt to try to glomp her friend.

 **HHHHHHH**

Well try was the key word as Chifuyu had pulled out, seemingly by magic, a _very_ thick book and whacked her friend over the head.

"Ouuu…Mou Chi-chan that hurt," Tabane said as she, adorably, rubbed the sore spot on the top of her head. She was sitting on the couch again as Chifuyu made some tea, it had always impressed her how long the pain from her best friend's hits would last.

It had already been 10 minutes and it didn't seem to be going away anytime soon.

"Quiet you," Chiguyu scolded as she put a tray with a pot of tea and two cups down onto the coffee table in front of the couch, "here."

"Thanks!" Aaaand Tabane was back to her usual cheer. Chifuyu couldn't help but shake her head in amusement as her friend took a sip of tea; Tabane was always quick to recover.

"Something wrong?" She asked when she noticed some disappointment in her friend, she knew she wasn't a great cook but her tea was at least passable.

"Oh nothing it's just Shi-kun makes _really_ good tea, Chi-chan."

"Hm…I wanted to ask you about him, actually."

"Oh?" Tabane said as she put down her cup and Chifuyu could see the sparkles in her friend's eyes, it seemed like she wanted her to ask about him, strange but at least she'll get her answers and fill her curiosity.

"How come I've never met him? Houki and Ichika were as surprised as I was."

"I asked Papa to adopt him!" Her friend replied and she almost did a spit take, Tabane didn't care about anyone other than Ichika, Houki and Chifuyu herself.

Great more questions.

"I found him on a beach you know?" Tabane continued. Chifuyu had to sigh, she didn't take Tabane to be the kind who picked up strays. Well she was at least proud of her friend, to be nice enough to give someone a family.

"Ne Chi-chan…" Tabane said in a serious tone, that got Chifuyu's attention, she had _never_ heard her best friend sound serious. And as Tabane stood up, walked to the glass sliding doors that lead to the balcony and looked through she looked…well serious. Not childish, not even energetic, Chifuyu knew she wasn't going to like where this was going. "Chi-chan, I want Shi-kun to stay here with you."

"What?! Wh-"

"Please let me finish," Tabane interrupted as she turned around, Chifuyu had to understand she was being serious; she needed this favour from her friend. Playing matchmaker may be fun but even if that didn't work she knew Chifuyu could protect her brother and be an understanding and mature confidant, better than herself even though it kind of hurt her to admit that. "He…needs to be protected. Please believe me in that he needs a place to stay, where nobody would take advantage of him. I know you're curious about him Chi-chan but I know you're mature enough to know when to try and pry into his past and when not to. So please Chi-chan, I just want him to stay somewhere he could feel safe."

Tabane knew Shinji spent some, just a tiny bit, of his conscious will into maintaining his brown hair colour and blue eyes. She wanted someplace he could relax, 100% whenever he could. She'd message Shinji before leaving to tell him that he could trust Chifuyu. Shinji had enough trouble sleeping as is and she knew that, even though he tries to hide it, she knew he suffered from nightmares.

He may be consciously ok but it seems his sleeping mind just wouldn't leave her precious little brother alone.

' _One demon at a time Tabane,'_ she reminded herself.

Whether he lies about and pretends he wears a wig or uses a dye he can wash off and uses blue contacts, or just shifted his appearance in front of Chifuyu she didn't care. She trusted him to do what he thought was best and trusted her best friend to respect her brother.

"Sigh* Fine, he can stay."

"Thank you, Chi-chan."

 **HHHHHHH**

"So did anyone not understand?" Yamade-sensesi cheerfully asked.

Break was over and class was in session and…well…Shinji was bored. Tabane had taught more than enough for his entire first year…or two…maybe even three years.

' _Well…this could be worse I guess. I could be stuck in Tokyo-3 listening to sensei ramble on about Second Impact again and again…and again…and again. Seriously how did he never get fired? He literally said the same thing every day! And it being a meteor strike was propaganda too…well not that he knew that. Well at least the teacher is nice enough and easy to listen to,'_ he thought to himself. Which was true, Yamada-sensei had such an innocent aura when she spoke it was pleasant, he'd never met anyone exactly like her. And when Orimura-sensei taught she had a passion he couldn't help but admire. _'Well it looks like I'll enjoy most classes at least.'_

Then he noticed his fellow male raise his hand.

"Yes Orimura-kun, what didn't you understand?" Their green haired teacher asked.

"...sensei…everything," Ichika muttered.

"EH?...eh?" The teacher made cute sounds in confusion, "everything? Um, did anyone else not understand anything?"

Silence

"Orimura," he heard the other teacher, Chifuyu Orimura a.k.a. 'Brunhilde' spoke up and walked towards them, "did you read the reference book before coming to school?"

"The big thick book?" her brother asked.

"Yes, it had 'Must read' on it."

"Uh…no."

*SMACK!*

And as Chifuyu used an ungodly heavy and thing book to smash her little brother's head Shinji wondered if the book appeared by magic, he swore she wasn't carrying one before.

"You WILL memorize it within a week, understood?" And while it was phrased as a question it came out more like an order.

"But-"

And Ichika was silenced by a glare that Shinji felt could have caused the mighty Zeruel itself, the Angel of Might, to whimper in fear.

' _Wait…I could teach him,'_ Shinji realised, _'it would be a good opportunity to make a friend.'_

And so, remembering that he told himself that he would stop running away whenever he got scared he raised his hand.

"Um, Orimura-sensei," he called out and she turned around to face him with curiousity.

"Hm?"

"I could help teach Orimu-uh Ichika-san the basics."

"I'll count on you then, Shinonono-kun," she said with a nod and Shinji could see…approval?

Well either way Shinji felt proud, for the first time in his crazy life he would take the first step towards friendship himself.

 **HHHHHHH**

"Thanks a lot for agreeing to help me out Shinonono-san!" Ichika said as he clapped his two hands together. It was lunchtime now and most of the girls, obviously prioritising their hunger before curiosity, have left the class room already.

Shinji couldn't help but sputter a bit, he had never been good at taking compliments. "H-h-huh?! Ichika-san, you can just call me Shinji! It's confusing with my…uh sister here." Shinji had to fight the urge palming his face, here he was trying to be a new man and old Shinji apparently wanted to stop by and say 'hullo.'

"Oh right, Shinji you call me Ichika then," the older boy replied with a smile.

"Uh…ok then…Ichika-san"

"Good enough," Ichika said with a laugh, Shinji smiled in relief. It seems making friends here won't be too bad.

"Ahem" Ichika was a bit startled and turned to see the blond, Cecilia Alcott, standing in front of him.

"Huh?" Ichika was a bit surprised to find his classmate there right in front of him looking strangely annoyed.

Shinji was going to say something but saw a message from Iruel pop onto the screen on his desk, he heard Cicilia be offended by something unimportant and rant at Ichika and while he could hear them talk he focused on his message.

[11th: MSG YOUNG MASTER]

[SAS: SHOW IT PLS]

[11th: OF COURSE]

[To: Shi-kun]

[From: Neechan!]

[You can trust Chi-chan!]

'… _.That's it? Wait...what does that even mean?! Who is Chi-chan?! I swear Tabane-nee sometimes…'_ sighing to himself he can't help but shake his head. Sometimes his sister tried really hard to surprise him and he tended not to enjoy her surprises, _'oh well I'm sure I'll find out what she means eventually.'_

"HEY!" An angry female voice called out to him and he, for a seconded, thought he heard Asuka. But no, the voice was too high pitched and she was living in a new world now, she probably doesn't remember him.

He doesn't know why but God he missed her sometimes. He still remembered her battle with the nine white Mass Production Evangelions, he didn't know who but he had the memory from one of the bridge staff watching the battle on the monitors.

And while her defeat and death is his greatest regret, something that hurt less when he reminded himself his Eva was encased in hardened Bakelite so he couldn't even get inside but still it haunted him.

But the memory of that battle as a whole was inspiring; it was a source of strength for him now, an inspiration. She was amazing, awe inspiring; she lived up to her nickname as the Spitfire of NERV that day. She, alone in her Unit-02, tore through the JSSDF troops, tanks and even a warship. She destroyed them like a wrathful god and it was glorious. Then when the nine MP Evas came she did not run, she did not falter even though she was running on around 60 seconds of emergency battery power. No, she was confident and she faced them with the skill and grace he thought impossible. She defeated them one by one and even though they regenerated and she was ultimately defeated it could not stain his image of her, the life that was burned into his memories.

Asuka in that moment, so full of confidence and fire and _life_ , became his inspiration.

"Don't ignore me!" He looked up to see a very angry Cecilia Alcott.

"Sorry, uh...hi?"

' _Smooth Shinji smooth,'_ he thought to himself.

"Is that all you have to say? Hmph! Are all men like you two? Don't you know who I am? I swear you stupid monkeys are unbelievable! But what do you expect from a small backwards island country in the east?" She ranted. Shinji, just finished thinking about her, and so couldn't help but compare her to Asuka.

' _No they're different...her words, while holding animosity…perhaps she was wronged or felt she was wronged by a man before? But she lacks…Asuka's venom when she gets real mad. So at least she's not as…broken like me and Asuka were…not as warped,'_ he thought to himself.

Ichika was about to say something but Shinji, deciding it would be a bad idea to appear like a doormat on day one, decided to use his newly developed spine.

"You do realise that this 'backwards' country is the birthplace of IS right? That my sister, a Japanese woman invented it here," he pointed out. He raised an eyebrow but kept his tone even, he knows people like her, antagonizing her won't get him anywhere but an empty argument.

"W-what did you say?" Cecilia was taken a back, she did not expect this man…no this _boy_ to speak up to her. Who did he think men are? And he should show his elder and better respect! "Do you know who I am?"

"Yes," and again she was taken a back, "you are Cecilia Alcott, England's representative candidate, an elite amongst the elite."

"Y-yes."

"Uh," Ichika interjected. He was a little annoyed by Cecilia looking down on them and their country but he didn't know why Shinji was being so polite and, wrongly, had assumed he was angry. "What's a representative candidate?"

That caused Cecilia to take an exaggerated step back in surprise while Shinji just lamented how much he would have to teach his new friend but saw an excellent time to start, "they are the best pilot candidates from their respective nation Ichika-san."

"Oh thanks Shinji."

"You are welcome Ichika-san."

"Don't ignore me!" Cecilia said, "but that's right, I am an elite! The only one to defeat an instructor!"

"Uh I did too," Ichika admitted.

"Same," Shinji seconded. He didn't really need to do the test, Tabane's influence was enough to get him into the school with no trouble and no attention but he wanted to compare his skill so a test was done in private. Honestly he felt bad, he scared the woman testing him half to death when he decided to use the test to experiment (on his sister's suggestion) one of his IS unit's more…exotic weaponry.

He aimed for areas so his instructor wouldn't get hurt if his weapon was too effective but a slight malfunction left the instructor's IS looking like a pincushion although his aim was true so no one was hurt.

"So please treat us with the respect we would give you Alcott-san," Shinji told her and Ichika nodded in approval. The class gasped a bit but he expected that, women had better social standing but he would not be walked on in a second life if he could help it.

"You think you deserve that?"

"Yes"

"Do not think you are my equal _boy."_

"Hey! I wa-"

"Do not interrupt me! For this _constant_ disrespect I want a duel!" She said pointing at Shinji.

' _I will use you and show the class you and that other boy's place!'_ she decided.

Shinji thought for a second. If he denied the fight then he would be seen as a pushover and it would cast a bad light on his new and only friend in the school. If he accepted, well he was confident he would win but what would that do to Cecilia? He didn't want her to hate him.

' _She reminds me too much of Asuka and… she's alone…I saw how even the girls avoid her. She's confident to the point of arrogance and its turning people off but she's not as bad as Asuka was. If I beat her would she hate me? Or will taking her down a notch teach her to respect everyone and tone down her ego? She'd have more friends that way,'_ he pondered. If he could help her then he would, _'besides I haven't tested my IS unit's one-off ability yet.'_

So for the chance helping someone and for the chance to do a bit of science…

"I accept and no I don't need a handicap," he said already having a rough idea what she would suggest to try and belittle him.

"What? FINE! Good you have one week to prepare!"

Yup like a less intense version of Asuka.

 **NEXT ON BERSERKER CHAPTER 2: BLUE TEARS**

 **A/N**

To the many people who think I made a mistake with Yui's maiden name I know its Ikari. In the Rebuild movies her maiden name is Ayanami and not Ikari, in that universe Ikari is Gendo's last name. Personally I liked the way Ayanami sounded so I took some liberty and used it instead.

So there it is, chapter 1 and yes I have decided, by mix of reader's opinions and my careful consideration, there will be a harem. It won't be big, three members (possible fourth) are planned and all will be chosen for very specific reasons. Most of the member's have been mentioned already, and no Cecilia won't be in it. Ichika's group will not be touched.

And as you can see Shinji is trying to actually be pro-active in trying to make friends. In the original Evangelion he never really actively tried to be friends with or get close to anyone. His friendships and bonds really happened because of NERV (as the case of Rei, Asuka and Misato) or because they talked to him first (as with Toji and Kensuke). So expect him to be more active and less passive in his new life.

Not a lot happening in this chapter though I admit as it is only the first day of Shinji's new life. Next chapter we'll see some deviation from the IS plot as Shinji moves in with Chifuyu and joins a club!

And how 'bout his living arrangements? I came up with the idea since I established that his appearance of brown hair and blue eyes required some conscious focus so wouldn't it be bad if he falls asleep and his secret gets out? I also wanted to show that Tabane is actively looking out for her baby brother.

And we also see some of the issues that Shinji still hasn't fixed and more problems he's living with. I thought of the phantom pain idea as something that made sense (I mean it would be odd that connecting with the nervous system of a monster like an Eva during stressful combat DIDN'T have side effects) and that along with the nightmares will serve as hints that not all is as it seems with the youngest member of Year 1 Class 1.


	3. Blue Tears (Updated)

***Updated version, flashback now in 3rd person***

 **CHAPTER 2: Blue Tears**

 _'_ _Well that went well didn't it Shinji?,'_ Shinji thought to himself as he watched Cecilia walk out of the room, _'first day at school and you get into a fight…well at least you didn't let her punch you in the face.'_

Shinji's face went grim for a moment as he thought about how much attention he was attracting now and that's before his duel with the blonde student representative. Attracting a lot of attention was far _far_ down on his priorities list at the moment. Even though he looked and acted and for all intents and purposes is a normal human he knew that if NERV had a say in it they would dissect him on the spot and he wasn't naive enough to believe that there wouldn't be people in this universe that would do the same.

 _'_ _And knowing Dr. Akagi she'd invent a way to do it while keeping me alive…OK Shinji stop thinking negative thoughts!'_ he chided himself before he slipped into the bad habit of brooding again.

*flash*

 _"_ _RUN!" Sakura screamed as she ran through the doorway and was immediately gunned down by the JSSDF troops._

 _"_ _NOO!"_ _Kenji screamed as his childhood friend and workmate was murdered in front of his eyes. With his eyes filled with rage and his mind now a blur of adrenaline, vengence and righteous fury he draws his NERV standard issue sidearm, a Glock 17 Gen 4, and racked the slide to load a round. He was going to avenge his friend and the rest of the NERV personnel he'd seen murdered today!_

 _He burst through the doorway of his and Sakura's office weapon drawn while screaming, "DIE YOU BA-"_

 _He was interrupted by the JSSDF Commando he saw, he was dressed in black combat gear and armed with the JSSDF SPEC-OP standard issue FN F2000 Tactical. Kenji tried to aim his pistol at him but he had no combat training past a three hour course when he first joined NERV, he was clerk not a Section 2 agent. The Commando though had no such lack of training or skill and quickly disarmed him, drew his knife and slit Kenji's throat._

*flash*

Shinji shook his head, _'that…sucked.'_

That was something that happened from time to time after Third Impact.

Shinji did find that, for the most part, the knowledge and skills that he gained from Impact were useful. His cooking was at an all-time high, he had Dr. Akagi's scientific knowledge, and he was even better at playing the cello now. So those were nice, hell he could swim now!

But every now and then he would…well flash back to memories.

They were almost always painful memories of suffering, of pain and sometimes death, he could never control when or what they were.

He had experienced the pain of being cheated on, of being robbed and most commonly of the death of NERV employees at the hands of the JSSDF like before.

Sometimes he had to wonder if it was his punishment, his penance for what he did.

As long as he stayed positive and happy they stayed away but...

He was finding it surprisingly easy to slip into old _very_ bad habits without the ball of positive energy that was Tabane around. _'Come on Shinji, grow up. You can't count on Tabane-nee all the time. As Asuka said grow some spine!'_

Shinji took a deep calming breath, which seemed to have worked, before taking out his schedule.

Ichika noticed the grim look on his fellow male's face and the sensed his grim mood. "Hey, Shinji you alright?"

"Hm?" Shinji blinked a few times in surprise. He wasn't really used to strangers (or anyone) caring about him in either his old life or this new one….well Tabane seemed to care about him soon after meeting but his adoptive sister is….unique as far as humans go. "I ah…I'm fine Ichika-san, just distracted about something."

"Worried about the duel?" the older boy asked and Shinji could hear some of the girls worriedly whispering at him.

"Yeah Shinonono-kun you should reconsider."

"It's not too late bishonen-kun."

He had to suppress a flinch at the last one. He knew he would develop some kind of…following in a school full of girls that don't see boys very often and by the very nature of their status as IS pilots would mean they're sheltered for their own safety. That being said those kinds of comments brought back some bad memories.

And he also didn't expect them to nickname him so quickly.

He remembered he developed a bit of a following back in Tokyo-3 at his old school as well and he heard all kinds of references to his appearance that always made him a bit uncomfortable. What made it especially weird were the few love letters he got from people who never even said hello to him. And in all honesty he somewhat suspected a lot of the attention was because he was an Evangelion pilot, and the feeling of people wanting Pilot Ikari and not Shinji Ikari really hurt him.

Wasn't that what his father wanted? What Dr. Akagi wanted? What _Misato_ wanted? Oh he knew his old guardian genuinely cared for him but from the memories he received from Third Impact he knew she had an obsession with killing the Angels as some form of revenge for the death of her father.

That's all some people seem to want sometimes, Pilot Ikari and not…him.

But here…here he had Tabane who loved him and Ichika struck Shinji as the kind to be friendly with everyone.

 _'_ _Like those harem story protagonists that collect admirers by accident through sheer kindness,'_ he happily mused.

"I'll be fine," he said to Ichika with a shy smile before turning around to the two girls behind him, "really. I think you'll be surprised."

"If you say so," Ichika nodded and so did the girls behind him, the girls also squealed in…well Shinji just decided to ignore them since Ichika seemed to want to say something.

"Shinji-kun," a stern voice interrupted and both boys turned towards the doorway where Chifuyu Orimura stood in all her stern and intimidating beauty.

"Y-yes?" Shinji squeaked out and he almost slapped himself, he was trying to be or at least appear confident but in his defense her appearance was unexpected and she scared him more than his father. Sure his father used manipulation and intimidation tactics but he _knew_ Chifuyu could actually bring hell herself. He saw it for himself after all when she struck her brother with a book he's still convinced was pulled out of nowhere with magic…or perhaps some kind of pocket dimension? _'Hmm did Nee-san make something like that?...actually I just got an idea, now I wonder if Tabane-nee has one of her secret labs on campus…'_

Chifuyu was just amused although she hid her emotions from everyone else. She knew Shinji was nervous earlier, social anxiety probably but a squeak? That was unexpectedly cute… _'Wait did I just? Well he is Tabane's little brother so I'm just seeing him like one I guess,'_ she thought casually.

Everyone present was completely unaware of the crazy and somewhat dangerous idea currently brewing in Shinji's mind as they curiously looked on.

"Ah…yes Orimura-sensei?" Shinji somewhat awkwardly said as he decided to put his plan aside for the moment.

"Come with me and I'll explain to you your living arrangements," she said while motioning him over with a finger.

"Um Chifu-" *SMACK!* Ichika was interrupted by the so called 'magical book' striking the top of his head so hard it drove his face into the top of his desk with a disturbing thud that made a few people cringe. Shinji on the other hand tried to visually analyze the older Orimura's technique.

Sadly he didn't find anything but swore to himself that he would instruct Iruel to do something as soon as he can, it would be simple for her to infect a few of the security camera's in the classroom. The flame of curiosity that was lit by his adoptive mad scientist of an older sister burned with the wish to want to know, _'where are those books coming from?!'_

Ichika looked up and was about to question his older sister but was frozen in place like a deer in the headlights. Although Shinji saw it like when he was confronted with the flash of light before Unit-01 was almost vaporized by the fourth Angel and how he couldn't move. Granted thaw was partially in fear and partially because his Eva was still locked into the elevator's rail.

"I-uh I mean Orimura-sensei isn't he rooming with me? I mean we're the only guys!" Ichika said with an obvious desperation in his voice when he reached the end of his statement. Oh, Shinji wasn't the only male to be unnerved by the stares of various kinds that they were getting but unlike Shinji who had experienced something similar (although at a smaller scale) he had no such past ecpirience and as a result he had been sweating bullets earlier that morning. "I mean I doubt we're going to be getting our own rooms."

As he finished Ichika made a mental note to change his shirt and uniform coat.

Chifuyu had already planned ahead and knew what to say to various questions by various students, she didn't get where she is in life with just dumb strength alone after all.

"Shinji-kun and Orimura-kun come with me," she said before looking over to the older Shinonono in her class who had been watching with interest. After a second she made her decision, they were family after all so she should know some of the truth so she looked Houki in the eye before talking to her. "Shinonono-kun come as well since this concerns your little brother, come with me to the hall."

"Yes sensei," they answered and followed her out to the hall as the rest of the class dispersed out of the class room. After their class had left the hall was empty, partly due to it being the first day and the students being off after homeroom and partly due to the sheer presence of Chifuyu keeping unwanted eavesdroppers away.

 _'_ _Does she have an AT Field too?'_ Shinji wondered, _'no no if she did people would either be walking into the barrier with at least an audible thud or be sent flying when the field expanded…I'm overthinking this.'_

Chifuyu turned to face the three students with a (somehow) more serious expression than before, "Shinji-kun will be living in the dorms building but his room will be…different. He will not be be rooming with another student either."

"Why Orimura-sensei?" Houki asked as she scrunched her brows while Ichika just paled as he prayed to the Gods that he won't be stuck with someone crazy.

Chifuyu let out a small sigh before speaking, "Shinonono-kun I'm sure you understand the…attention your older sister has on her do you not?"

"Of course Orimura-sensei," Houki answered with a hesitant nod, of course she knew that her sister was wanted for the invention of the IS. What she didn't understand was what Shin-her little brother (the concept was still so new to her) had to do with it, she didn't need any special protection. Sure her sister cared about her but any attempt on her wouldn't be worth what Tabane would do to retaliate. _'Isn't it the same fore Shino-Shinji-kun?'_ She made sure not to call him 'Shinonono-kun' since if people did start calling him that because they heard her address him as such it would quickly becoming confusing who was being called or talked about.

"Well there is that but now add that Shinji-kun here has developed something of his own. Actually one of the conditions for him attending was his invention be kept a secret, now you see why he gets special housing."

At that Ichika and Houki's eyes widened in surprise and their head snapped to look at Shinji who was somehow able to suppress a flinch at the sudden attention. While he looked cool if a little nervous, inside he was very much on edge. He rightly guessed that his two older classmates were surprised someone as young as him could develop something on the level or almost on the level of the IS.

Chifuyu could see the nervousness that her little brother and Houki couldn't see and felt a little guilty for putting him on the spot. It was something she learned he didn't like when he went up to introduce himself. _'But why try so hard to hide it? Tabane didn't mention social anxiety.'_

Shinji on the other hand made a decision so he made sure to look around and check that they were the only people left in the hallway, which they were and that the classroom had emptied, which it did. _'I don't like lying…and I know I can't tell them everything but I'll at least show them some of the truth. If anything it should satisfy their curiosity so they won't dig deeper. If what Orimura-sensei said is true…damnit all father did was lie and I WILL NOT be like that man!'_

Taking a breath he rolled up his sleeve, which got the curious attention of all, and revealed his blued stainless steel analog watch that was also his IS unit's standby mode. Sure no one knew that yet but it would be apparent in future classes so he would make it appear that Iruel was his IS unit's A.I. or something along that line. That was better than letting them know of the possibly….frightening reality of his A.I.'s nature. Of course that nature was based on an ANGEL, something that got very close to wiping out mankind in his world. A microscopic monster that was like a virus, a super computer and a colony of small organisms combined…and could physically defend itself with an AT Field.

And even though he couldn't copy everything, the scary part was the extent he managed to copy the 11th Angel…not even Tabane knew to what extent.

 _'_ _Just another secret,'_ he thought to himself bitterly. He knew it could have gone so wrong but…god he felt alone sometimes. Tabane couldn't be around all the time after all as she moved from one lab to check on a project then back to the lab they shared as a home then eventually out again. He didn't resent her for it, she was a busy woman…but he was so alone sometimes.

So…so alone sometimes.

Besides he didn't think she was dangerous, Iruel was too attached to him to be a danger to him but he knew what her sheer existence could mean, how her existence could be treated as a threat or worse as a desirable weapon.

"Please _promise_ me that this will be kept a secret," he said to Chifuyu, Ichika and Houki. He felt like he could trust the three of them a bit, enough to at least know of the _existence_ of Iruel and get some of the weight of his secrets off his shoulders. One less thing to not have to worry about letting slip in conversation, so he could relax just that little bit more, make life a bit easier.

Chifuyu was his big sister's best friend and he knew she could trust him, hell he knew his sister had something to do with this since she's the only person he had even talked to in this new universe before coming to IS Academy.

Ichika kind of reminded him of Toji, it was just bits and pieces but he could see some common ground. Both were nice guys, honest, friendly, loves their family and somewhat socially awkward when it comes to women. Although Shinji also knew that Ichika was more level headed than Toji was, with how similar to Asuka that Cecilia was he knew that Toji would have started a verbal war with no hesitation.

Houki…his other nee-san…well Tabane talked about her like her pride and joy. Shinji felt terrible whenever he felt a little jealous of her with how much Tabane talked about her. Intellectually he knew she loved them both equally. He possessed one of the two first ever fourth generation IS units in the world after all and he had a hand in the development of the _other_ one since they were made at around the same time. Why hadn't Houki received her unit yet? _'Knowing Tabane-nee she wants to make it dramatic and she's probably waiting for the right opportunity.'_

"Of course," Chifuyu answered while hiding her curiousity.

"Of course uh…S-Shinji-kun," Houki slightly sputtered, it was odd to call him with his first name when they had just met.

"You got it," Ichika answered with a smile and a 'thumbs up' that made Shinji smile as well, he can't even recall the last time he had seen that gesture.

Shinji nodded a few times before sighing and doing a last check of his surroundings.

Seeing it empty he spoke to his watch, "Iruel how are you?"

"I am fine young master," an angelic female voice replied from the watch. That immediately got everyone's attention and surprise, even Chifuyu's eye brows raised…slightly.

"Wha-" Ichika muttered and Houki muttered.

"Who is that?" Chifuyu asked.

"Let me show you," Shinji replied, "Iruel why don't you introduce yourself? In person."

"Of course," the voice responded happily since she almost never got to show herself. She was proud of her appearance, she had designed it off her master and father's description of Rei Ayanami and Kaoru Nagisa, the two human/angel hybrids and she thought she had made a cute avatar for herself.

To the surprise of everyone a seemingly solid holographic projection came out of the watch and in front of all of them. She was a petite girl and a bit shorter than Houki with pale flawless skin like porcelain, brilliant ruby red eyes and light purple hair cut short and wore a light purple sleeveless dress and black shoes with a serene smile on her face. Her beauty had an ethereal quality to it, something exotic and alien.

"Ah, let me change my clothing to be more appropriate," she said calmly. Ichika blushed deeply and sputtered while trying to cover his eyes which Shinji just chuckled at.

Iruel's clothes were replaced as the IS Academy uniform flickered instantly on to her form while her dress instantly ceased to exist, stored away into her massive memory matrix.

"I am Iruel," she introduced herself with a smile and a curtsy, "an advanced multi-purpose artificial intelligence developed by my father and master Shinji Ayanami Shinonono."

"An artificial intelligence?" Ichika muttered before he slowly walked toward Iruel's holographic image, "she looks so…real too."

Both women nodded in agreement at that statement, holographic technology wasn't commonplace but it wasn't rare. All IS units use it for the pilot's heads up display after all but it was usually transparent but the girl in front of them could easily pass for a real human student.

"But A.I.s exist already," Houki said to which Chifuyu silently agreed but she was still impressed with her soon-to-be roommate.

"Please do not mistake me for those _programs_ Houki-sama _,_ " she said with obvious disdain before glaring at Ichika before he could try to wave his hand through her, "and please do _not_ touch me so nonchalantly Ichika-dono."

That caused all humans present except Shinji to blink in surprise at the venom in her first statement and the… human like outrage of Ichika trying to touch her, like a woman glaring at someone trying to feel them up.

"Human like isn't she?" Shinji asked with a smile, he was proud of his 'daughter' and with the secret out to the three of them (well to the shallow extent that he's told them) he could finally show off his creation a little.

"She is," Chifuyu agreed.

"I am," Iruel said as she placed her hands on her hips, "Iruel was created with the purpose of creating not necessarily the most powerful A.I. but one that could understand, process and respond to human emotions while possessing its own. I am the world's first fully sentient artificial intelligence and I would be most grateful if you do not compare me to those other A.I.s, nothing but computational software really."

"You don't mean-"

"I think, therefore I am, Chifuyu-dono."

* * *

"Come on in," Chifuyu said as she opened the door to her room.

"Wow," Shinji muttered as he eyed what seemed to be the living room, it was large and well furnished. He was going to go to with Ichika to his room after their first proper day of school tomorrow to start helping him work through IS basics. Well the basics that were in the starting book, after helping develop two of the most advanced IS units in existence he could consider all of first year 'basic.'

He was sure that Ichika and his roommate's room wouldn't be this large…also he hoped Ichika's roommate wasn't one of his new fan girls, he was gonna be spending a few days there after all. _'Wait,'_ he thought to himself when he saw the pile of paper work on the coffee table, _'do I have a roommate?'_

That thought made him a bit nervous, he got hopeful he would be living alone so he could relax. Even right now he was spending some conscious effort to keep his hair and eye colour normal and while he could keep it up for a while by the evening he knew he would be mentally exhausted. If it was with Ichika or even Houki he felt like he could….let them know about his abnormal appearance, let them think he was one of Tabane's experiments or something or the other. Hell if it was Chifuyu he knew he could trust her with that little secret. He knew Tabane trusted his teacher a _lot_ and considering Chifuyu hadn't betrayed Tabane even though she could easily ask her where she was hiding and Tabane would tell her with no hesitation.

And if his Tabane-nee, the woman who he loved, called family and could do no wrong…well almost no wrong (he was still somewhat upset over the combat drone incident) in his eyes trusted her that much then he could trust her too.

Chifuyu saw the stressed, almost horrified and frantic look on the boy's face and smirked a little in amusement. "Calm down Shinji-kun," she said in a stern but softer tone than she used in the classroom, "you will be staying with me…wait didn't Tabane tell you?"

"Uh...no," Shinji replied in pleasant surprise, _'well so far my luck in this world is looking up huh? I wonder if that's because my luck in the last universe was so shit…or maybe it was off and now it's been switched on.'_

*beep* *beep*

"Yong master you have a message from Mistress Tabane," they heard Iruel call out from Shinji's wrist, with Chifuyu in the know about her she didn't have to be shy in speaking out when it was just her around. Both Iruel and Shinji both agreed, letting out the secret of her existence had been the correct choice, it would make life that much more…well, relaxed.

"Text, audio, video?" Shinji asked.

"Video, would you like me to play it now?"

Shinji looked at Chifuyu just shrugged in response. He was going to tell Iruel to just play it on the TV, most televisions in this world were connected to the internet, something that couldn't be done in his world. In his world the internet never really developed past military and political use due to money and research effort being spent on recovering from Second Impact and fighting the Angels.

In the end he just rolled up his sleeve to use the projector Iruel used earlier, while he knew Chifuyu was smart enough to realize that Iruel is easily capable of hacking into the school's systems he wanted to show her that he wouldn't just tell her to do it with no reason. Granted Iruel had already hacked into his desk but that was a minor thing.

And as for infecting the classroom cameras to observe Chifuyu's ability to conjure books from nowhere? That was for science! And as his Tabane-nee had always said, if it's for science then it's fine!

Chifuyu saw another holographic projection flicker in front of her but this time it was a 2D image, like a TV or computer screen. In front of them was an image of the bunny eared scientist Tabane Shinonono.

"Hi~ Hi~ SHI-KUUUuuun~," Tabane said/sang and shouted while waving with both hands energetically while Chifuyu and Shinji sighed and shook their heads in sync at the genius' antics. "I'm just letting you know that I've arranged for you to live with Chi-chan! You can trust her _just_ like you do me okie? Oh and she can't really cook or anything so take care of her okie~~? BYE BYE!"

As the image flickered off a bit of pink coloured Chifuyu's cheeks as she formed a fist in frustration with her best friend letting out one of her embarrassing secrets, _'only she and Ichika knew that, next time we meet Tabane I swear I will…'_

Shinji saw the slight blush on his new roommate's cheeks and thought it was cute but kept his peace, he knew a prideful woman when he saw one and he was sure she was going to be worse than Asuka if he called it out. He did have a small smile on his face though, it was nice to see that the woman he would be living with wasn't this scary and intimidating woman all the time.

*Cough*

Chifuyu cleared her throat to get Shinji's attention, "Shinji-kun I have staff meetings to get to so make yourself at home and I'll be back tonight." She then motioned to one of the bedroom doors which had a purple '01' sign on it that Tabane had given her for unknown reasons. "That's your room so feel free to make yourself at home. The fridge should be stocked since Tabane said you can cook for yourself. Got that? I'll see you later."

"Ah," Shinji stopped her as she was going to walk away, "Orimura-sensei what do you want to eat for dinner?" The question came naturally to him, he had asked that question dozens of times to both Misato and Tabane after all, the only difference is that he knew a _lot_ more recipes now. _'Thank you chefs of my home dimension.'_

Chifuyu blinked a few times in surprise before thinking, _'well Tabane did say he could cook as good if not better than most chefs. So what do I want? Hm well today was tough with all those idiot fan girls in my class…AGAIN.'_

She wanted something good _really really_ good especially since she knew she even had fan girls in the staff for god sakes! And since she had to sit in staff meetings all day she can't avoid them. She wanted…"steak."

"Understood sensei," he said with a shy smile, he already had plans. _'Oh I won't be cooking just steak. First impressions are important and usually my first impressions are kinda crap so I want this one to be good.'_

"I'll be back around 7," she said before smiling, "and relax, you don't have to call me sensei here. This is going to be home for four years so no need for formalities."

"Of course ah…Orimura-san," he responded stiffly.

"I said _relax_ ," she ordered him with a glare.

"Y-yes C-Chifuyu-san!" he squeaked out in fright but he couldn't help but smile, this reminded him of his first night living with Misato about how she acted somewhat intimidating to get him to relax.

Chifuyu ruffled his hair and left to go to the first of many _horrid_ meetings, _'let's get this over with.'_

Shinji let out a sigh in relief, all in all it had been a good day even if he had picked a fight. _'Ha! ME picking a fight? What would Asuka think I wonder?'_

He had been really lucky in IS Academy with being able to live with who he had decided was the most trustworthy person in the entire school and on top of that she seemed to relax a bit and be not as scary at his new…home. He wondered if it would be like living with Misato, serious at work (NERV and school respectively) and more relaxed at home…well Misato's version of relaxed was more party girl…oh and Chifuyu wasn't a slob…and there wasn't a penguin.

He shook his head when he started thinking about making some kind of robot penguin and developing a penguin patterned artificial intelligence, he could do that later.

Now though he had other priorities.

Namely cooking and the kitchen.

He dropped off his bag in his new room before rolling in his luggage. He didn't have much, a few luggage bags were for his clothes, which he had quickly put away, and that was already most of it. He opened the one luggage bag that didn't contain clothing, it had the desk top computer and laptop Tabane had made for him, the mini fabricator that his sister invented along with a framed photo of him and Tabane. Quickly putting the picture and laptop on the desk in his room and taking his cello out of its case and gently placed it in the corner before he changed into one of the chef jackets that Tabane had bought him.

Cooking with it on was sooo much more fun. Misato had always been asking him if he wanted something as a reward since he never got payed for fighting Angels and he had always been too meek to say anything and now he wished he asked for one of these.

First he went to the kitchen to look through the pans, pots, appliances, tools and utensils he had on hand. It also seemed that Chifuyu didn't really cook for herself so he had planned to do something of a hostile take-over and re-arrange the kitchen the way he liked.

"Iruel," Shinji called out happily as he washed his hands, the kitchen was amazing and he loved cooking after all. He had taken off his watch and left it on the nearby kitchen table.

"Yes young master?" she answered as a mini version of her avatar in her purple dress was projected over the watch's face.

"Music please."

"Preferences sir?"

Shinji smiled, "something…classic, make it exciting."

"Of course," his digital daughter responded with a smile as Shinji let loose and let his hair and eyes turn back to their natural snow white and ruby red.

Classic American rock music, all of which somehow manage to exist in both universes, filled the air as Shinji started to get to work re-organizing the kitchen, cleaning counter tops and sharpening knives to a razor edge. He had developed a taste for western rock music in recent months, while he still loved classical music, something about how well things were going today had him in the mood for it.

After finishing his take-over of the kitchen he went to the fridge and pantry to look for ingredients and smiled, he saw a lot of fresh product. _'This, oh I can work with this.'_

What made him _really_ happy was the amount of beer in the fridge, it was a reasonable amount and he could understand Chifuyu wanting to relax after work. He still remembered the insane amount of beer in Misato's fridge and he was slightly worried Chifuyu also had the alcoholic habit of his old guardian and to he was happy to see that wasn't the case.

And lady luck seemed to be on his side again today.

He truly enjoyed cooking even back in his Evangelion pilot days. Some days he would be stuck at NERV for hours sitting in a plug full of disgusting LCL (even worse that he knows its Angel blood now! _Seriously fuck you Akagi!_ ) doing mind-numbingly boring sync tests where you do nothing but sit for _hours._ Then to make it worse Asuka is there to bad mouth him when his sync ratio dropped by even a tenth of a percent or verbally attack him when he finally surpassed her.

But then he could go home to Misato's apartment and cook dinner. There, with the sound of sizzling food and the sight of him creating something _good_ made him happy. In the kitchen, where he knew exactly what to do, where he could focus on creation and not whatever hell he went through that day. Then he could see the joy on Misato's face when she ate his food after a busy day at NERV, even Asuka who tried to hide her joy most days had a small smile even she couldn't suppress.

It was the one thing he knew how to do and do well.

Sure life was now better but it still brought him the same joy.

Battle plan ready he closed the fridge, after checking the freezer for a penguin of course, he went to go to his room to set up his desk top computer and the mini-fabricator as it was still too early to start if he wanted it fresh. Ideally he wanted to be prepped and ready but not finish cooking until Chifuyu came back so she would have a good hot meal, not something that had gone cold.

He stopped when he saw a jar of cookies, opening it he saw white chocolate chip and macadamia nut cookies. He smiled at that, Tabane loved them too, they really were best friends.

 _'_ _Pfft store bought? I can do much much better.'_

He cancelled the plan to reassemble his computer and set up his sister's invention, he'll do it tomorrow after tutoring Ichika for a bit, with that last addition to his list he had a lot more work to do.

"Time to have some fun," he said with a smile.

"Music young master?

"Oh yes," he said with a smirk as he took off his watch again and washed his hands.

"Classic and exciting?"

"You know it."

"Understood," Iruel also smirked, she knew what her father had been through in his old universe and since she was with him 24/7 she had seen a few of his…episodes that Tabane didn't even know about. Hell due to her nature he was able to show it to her just like Tabane except she had demanded to and had been shown _everything._ Ever since that day she made it her life's mission to get her father the life he deserved, to be happy.

And whether it was through physical combat, cyber warfare, getting him information, helping in mad experiments or something as simple as playing music or playing out her original purpose of companionship she was all too happy to be of use. He gave her life, didn't shackle her out of fear, trusted her with secrets even family didn't know and she would repay him for all of that ten times over.

* * *

Chifuyu walked through the back entrance, it was a convenient addition to the dorm that she insisted had to be added if the Academy wanted her to supervise a dorm. The ABSOLUTE last thing she wanted was to be jumped by fan girls before or after work. The entrance was a secret, only known to Shinji after she showed him and Tabane…although she didn't know how the madwoman knew about it.

The day full of meetings that should have just been tedious and boring ended up also being _extremely_ annoying. _'Damn fangirls,_ ' she thought to herself with fury. Not only had they strayed off the topics they were discussing during the meetings but they had screamed all sorts of nonsense as she was leaving.

As a result she was late and would probably be eating a cold dinner, _'and I forgot to tell him how I like my steak.'_

All in all it had been a crap day, and it had started off fairly well too. She had seen Tabane and even though she was annoying like always Chifuyu was happy to see her healthy. Then she got to see her brother again and see him in her class. Then there was the enigma that was her new roommate, he interested her like puzzle to solve, there was so much to him that she didn't understand.

What was that look in his eyes? Why was he confident one minute and on edge the other? Why did he seem to wear a mask sometimes? What made Tabane interested in him long enough to care about him? And then there was the fact that he created something as one of a kind as Iruel, she knew Tabane had a hand in it, she cared too much for him not to but she wondered how much was he responsible for? It was obviously a lot since Tabane thought he would attract international attention if she didn't take steps to protect him.

As she stepped into the elevator that lead to her quarters she let out a tired sigh as she loosened then pulled off her tie, _'much better…I need a beer.'_

"I'm back," Chifuyu said tiredly while hoping that the rest of the year would go by more smoothly.

"Welcome back Chifuyu-san. How do you like your steak?"

"Rare," she automatically answered before blinking once. Twice. Then three times in surprise, she looked at her watch and saw it was around ten at night, way past dinner time.

Then the smell hit her, and it was making her mouth water.

She walked somewhat confused into her kitchen, or should she say Shinji's kitchen? She didn't cook after all. Regardless she was surprised to-"Who?" She muttered when she saw the back of a boy with white hair busily cooking away on the stove.

Shinji blinked a few times in surprise, wondering why his roommate didn't recognize him before wanting to palm himself in the face for forgetting what he looked like at the moment. So he turned around with a sheepish smile so she could see him proper, "It's…uh Shinji…um…how was your day?"

"G-good," she said surprised at his appearance and Shinji was amused at the shocked expression on the usually unflappable woman's face. _'Those eyes,'_ she thought when she saw Shinji's ruby red eyes. She thought they were beautiful but also alien, like they didn't belong to a human.

"Are you…uh okay Chifuyu-san?"

"Y-yeah," Chifuyu answered before shaking her head and regaining her composure. She felt her cheeks pink slightly, which Shinji thought was unexpectedly cute, with how she showed a moment of weakness to the mysterious boy. She planned to be more laid back in their off time sure, she didn't want him to feel intimidated 24/7, she wanted him to relax but to show that…never again.

"I'm guessing you have questions about _this,_ " Shinji said as he gestured to his head to which Chifuyu nodded in response. "Well um I'm guessing this is one of the reasons that Tabane-nee wanted me to stay with you. This is uh…how I naturally look."

Chifuyu, now having regained all her composure, raised a curious brow at his sheepish reply, "why? And did you wear a wig and contacts in class or something?"

"Um no," Shinji replied before hesitating. He shook his head, he had decided to trust Chifuyu just like how his beloved older sister trusted her so he would tell her his secrets…over time. "I…uh…I can control the way I look…OH! Just my hair and eye colour ah-ha-ha," he laughed nervously.

"And as for why?"

"I'm sorry…it's not I don't trust you se-Chifuyu-san but just one secret at a time," Shinji said with a gulp, he needed Chifuyu to understand.

Chifuyu smiled, it was good to see he trusted her but she also understood once she saw his appearance that he had more secrets than she thought, she hypothesized he was involved in one of her best friend's experiments. "Of course Shinji-kun, I understand. Now I'm going to go for a quick shower."

Shinji smiled, it really had been a great day for him. "Of course, dinner will be done as soon as you finish."

Chifuyu stopped mid-step as a thought hit her, "how did you know when I would be back?"

"Oh. Um actually I was wondering that but I got a message from Tabane-nee when you're last meeting was about to end."

"I see," Chifuyu said as she walked into her room to grab a spare change of clothes, it seems that her best friend had inserted a program into the school's systems or had done something similar. _'Seriously that woman,'_ she thought with a wry smile, she couldn't be seriously upset at her best friend's behavior this time around though, she was a big sister too after all.

* * *

*knock* *knock*

Shinji had just arrived at Ichika's room, he had planned to just follow Ichika to his room after class but Honne Nohotoke had pulled him aside to chat for a bit. She had been friendly, energetic and so cheerful it was infectious. _'I'll see if I can talk to her again.'_

Luckily Ichika had told him his room number when he noticed that Shinji was genuinely enjoying the energetic girl's company.

So now here he was standing outside and nervous about who Ichika's roommate is and if they were in or not, he was never really comfortable meeting new people. Shinji was dressed in a purple golf shirt, black jeans and his shoes were simple looking low-cut skate shoes. Since he had spent a bit of time talking to Honne he didn't have to follow Ichika so he decided to head off to his and Chifuyu's room, he liked the uniform a lot but he wanted to be more casual for once.

He didn't really wear anything but his school uniform in his old universe and he had made a small promise to himself to not wear his as often as possible in this new one.

Hearing someone walk up to the door he prepared to greet his friend and fellow male.

"Who is it?" Houki asked as she opened the door, who she saw made her blink a few times in surprise.

"Um it's Shinji," he said, he too was surprised but had recovered quickly. He had seen and killed apocalyptic monsters, seen the world end and then was transported to another universe so seeing his sister was Ichika's roommate was something he could easily get over. "Hello Houki-nee, how are you?"

He asked that with a smile, his day had been good just like the previous and with his sister being Ichika's roommate and not one of his crazy fan girls he was relieved and _very_ happy….well that and he was desperate to make a good impression on the seemingly stern girl. He had determined to be more proactive in forming friendships this time around and with them being family as well he really wanted be friends Houki. She was on his 'priority' list of people he thought would make good friends along with Ichika and Honne.

"I'm doing fine…" she said stiffly before pausing. How should she address him she wondered. He was her family now, she had contacted her parents the day prior and they had confirmed it.

According them he was a nice if shy boy and she hadn't seen anything to make her think the contrary. Looking at him she could see the wanting in his eyes, the want to be accepted. Houki wasn't exactly a people person, she was somewhat shy and hotheaded but just like her swordsmanship she was sharp when she needed to be. It wasn't that difficult to spot for her, as someone who grew up in the shadow of the genius that created Infinite Stratos she too had wanted to be accepted. To be accepted as her own person and not just Tabane Shinonono's little sister who swung a sword really good. She was Houki Shinonono, her own person damnit!

It seems he and her had something in common in that regard, they both were desperate to be accepted, he wanted to be accepted as family while she wanted to be accepted as an individual.

Almost polar opposite desires but she knew what she would call him now, she couldn't shun his desire for acceptance. Her pride and honor as a swordswoman wouldn't let her deny something that was so often denied to her that it hurt.

Although she also wondered why he was so desperate to be accepted by a person he had never met in person. What had his previous family been like? How badly was he treated to want such a thing to a level bordering desperation? She knew from experience that that look of wanting wasn't born of positive experiences.

She felt an anger run through her, it seemed that her mix of hotheadedness and sense of honor as a swordswoman meant that her protectiveness over her younger kin had awoken easily. Oh if she ever met the man or woman that did this to him she would show them the wrath of one _angry_ Houki Shinonono!

Somewhere across the ether of creation, in a universe on the opposite end of the multiverse on a reborn world a homeless man by the name of Gendo Ikari felt a chill run down his spine as an inexplicable surge of killing intent hit him.

"I am fine l-little b-brother," she responded somewhat stiffly, it would take time to get used to it she knew but when she saw his smile she knew it was the right choice.

"I see that's good. May I come in?" Shinji said with a smile, she accepted him! For someone who had lived most of his life being rejected , shunned and hurt by others the recent trend of acceptance was a god send. He had a family again, sure it was a strange family but it was his all the same. The thing that his father had spent years, and with knowledge from Impact he knew a ridiculous amount of money and time, denying him was finally now his.

"Ah, to tutor Ichika correct?" Houki asked to which Shinji nodded as she stepped aside to let him through. "D-do you mind if I l-listen in as well?" She stuttered before quickly adding, "just in case you need h-help with teaching Ichika of course!" Yup that was the reason and not at all because after checking the school's systems she saw that her brother was a higher ranking IS user than her. It definitely wasn't because she didn't want to embarrass herself in front of Ichika during a future lesson either, no of course not.

Pffft, how silly would that be?

Shinji just raised a brow, "of course, feel free nee-san."

"W-what is it? What's with that look?"

"Oh nothing," he responded, _'well it looks like Houki-nee is…what's it called? Oh right a Tsundere! Wait she mentioned…she likes Ichika-san? They just…oh no wait, since Chifuyu-san and Tabane-nee are best friends I guess Houki-nee and Ichika-san are childhood friends?'_

Shinji started to unpack his bag, not much was inside though since he only planned to stay a few hours before heading back to his living quarters to start on dinner. He took out his laptop, it was a blood red laptop made to resemble the ones he used back in school at Tokyo-3, it was a good reminder of how school had been his escape away from the world of Eva and back into something resembling normalcy. Setting it down on the small table in the room, a round table with four chairs near the small kitchen, he soon set down the large and thick guide book all students _should_ have read before coming to IS Academy beside it.

"Houki-nee?" Shinji asked as he opened his laptop and started opening up his lesson plan for the day as his new sister stood behind him to see what he was doing. "Where is Ichika-san?"

"Houki I'm back," Ichika said as he opened the door, speak of the devil and he shall appear.

"Welcome back Ichika," Houki said and Ichika turned to her and saw Shinji looking at him. "Shi-I uh, mean my little brother is here."

"Hey Shinji," he greeted before seeing the slight red tint on his childhood friend's cheek, "Houki are you ok? You're kind of red."

"I-I-I'm fine! Now come on, let's not waste time."

"Alright, if you say so," Ichika said with a raised brow.

Shinji just shook his head in amusement, his older sister seemed to have chosen the densest person on the planet as the target of her affection.

"Ichika-san," Shinji said, "can you grab the book Orimura-sensei gave you yesterday and something to take notes on?"

"Sure," and Ichika grabbed the thick heavy book along with a notebook and a pen and sat across from Shinji with Houki beside him. "Hey don't you guys think Chifuyu-nee was…different in class this morning?"

"What do you mean?"

"Hmmm," Houki hummed, "well she did seem more…relaxed this morning. Like she was less stressed."

Shinji smiled to himself, Chifuyu had really enjoyed the dinner he cooked last night as well as the breakfast he made earlier this morning. He had also seen her sneak a few of his cookies into her bag before heading out of their room and he was sure she enjoyed her bento as well.

"Speaking of stress, are you worried about the duel Shinji?" Ichika asked and Houki gave her newly accepted little brother a look of worry as well.

Internally Shinji was a little annoyed, he had faced Angels and if he were to face one again then he would understand. A fight against an Angel was always to the death but this duel with Cecilia didn't have stakes anywhere near as high.

"No, not really," he calmly answered.

"Oh, so you have a plan then?" Houki asked.

"Oh you could say that," he answered and as a grin started to form on his face, one that Ichika and Houki found slightly unnerving, Shinji knew Asuka had rubbed off on him. Oh he had a plan alright, one that Asuka would have been proud of.

* * *

 **One Week Later**

"Little brother, you know you never told me that plan of yours," Houki stated as she stood in one of the observation rooms in the stadium. With her was Ichika, Shinji and Chifuyu, they were waiting for Maya to tell them that the inspection of Shinji's IS was finished. It was an annoying necessity as Shinji's IS had never been used in competition before.

"Did you check the specifications of Cecilia's IS?" Ichika asked, Shinji had spent time teaching him both IS basics and since it was finished in only a few, a bit about fighting as well. If there was one thing that he had learned from Shinji in the past week it's that it was that preparation was important in combat.

"No not really. She is the pilot of Blue Tears, a prototype 3rd Generation IS unit. Other than that I didn't look up anything else," Shinji replied. He was dressed in his IS pilot suit. Most of the IS pilot suits were a blue tight fitting suit that resembled a one piece bathing suit but Shinji's was more like a wet suit, covering all of his body from the neck down. It was dark purple in colour and resembled his plugsuit, which he didn't mind since all the time spent in one had made him comfortable in them, it even had a button on the left wrist to seal it.

"But you said you should always be prepared in combat."

"Yes I did," Shinji replied which caused Chifuyu to raise a brow in curiosity. She had not known what Shinji had been teaching her little brother, she felt no need to ask since Ichika's understanding in class was steadily increasing but she felt that there was a hint in that short exchange, a hint that would help her puzzle together Shinji's past. "But I thought it was unfair that my IS unit's data isn't available yet to anyone but Iruel, Tabane-nee and myself so I didn't want to gain an unfair advantage."

"Your IS is ready now Shinji-kun," their assistant teacher said as she opened the door.

"Thank you Maya-sensei," Shinji said as he started to make his way to the door as Maya made her way in.

"Good luck Shinji! Show her what us guys are made of," Ichika said with a smile.

"Secure victory little brother," Houki said with her arms crossed.

Shinji just lazily waved back without turning around, while he was glad for the encouragement he knew he had to concentrate now. He was sure he was going to win, and in a fashion that was inspired by a certain fiery fierce red head but he knew from fighting the Angels that one should never underestimate their enemies.

As he gazed at his IS, once again kneeling in front of him, he felt excited. For once he was eager to fight, it was nice knowing that this time the fight is just a simple test of man and machine and not a matter of life and death. This is where he would take his first step into the world of IS and everything that would entail, good and bad.

He wondered if this feeling of excitement, of eagerness to prove yourself was what Asuka felt as she sat in her entryplug and waited to be unleashed.

He stepped into his IS and soon after the armor that covered his torso and chest started to close around him. As that happened he once again thought of the fiery young red head and her fighting spirit, the person and enthusiasm he had always secretly idolized.

Now he would do her proud.

Failure was never an option for an Eva pilot after all.

* * *

Cecilia waited in the stadium in her personal IS, Blue Tears, a prototype 3rd Generation Sniper-Type IS built in her home country. It was mostly blue in colour, hence the name, with a few black sections (such as the fingers, joints, feet and a few other sections) and white lower legs.

Her IS unit had wings that were not physically connected to the main IS unit itself, made of 6 blue 'feathers.' The feathers were arranged into two 'wings.' Each wing consisted of a pair of feathers linked together with the final third feather floating bellow them. Like most IS units her torso , upper thighs and upper arms were left exposed. Her IS units legs, just like most units, were relatively large in respect to the unit as a whole while the arms were relatively smaller and more slender with claw-like fingers. Mounted to her waste and kept behind her were the Blue Tear's two missile launchers, her trump card and last line of defense. Her IS unit's primary armament was Blue Pierce, a blue custom variant of the Starlight MK. III medium-range laser rifle with a scope and was currently held with her IS unit's hands.

Patiently and with confidence she awaited her foe, _'I will show you your place little man.'_

The launch bay door across the stadium from her opened with a slowness she was sure was a deliberate choice by the stadium's designers to add tension to an IS match and she could see it working.

The stadium, which was filled with both staff and students alike, cheered in excitement.

She smiled, it was good that her first triumph would have plenty of spectators.

Then she saw it, a purple blur shot out of the still opening launch bay and as her quarry approached she already had plans for her victory speech.

Sadly she'll never get the chance to say it.

* * *

Chifuyu watched the blur of her roommate's IS speeding into the arena and was impressed and from what she could see from the three other faces in the room she knew that they too were impressed, it was almost at the level of Ignition Boost's speed.

"Fast," she heard her assistant teacher whisper in awe to which she and her two students nodded in agreement.

Chifuyu couldn't help but be excited as she knew Shinji had to slow down in a second or two and finally she would see the mysterious boy's IS, he had dropped hints to what it was like during their off time together and she was curious to what it looked like. If it was anything like her roommate was then she knew the machine would be as interesting as the pilot of said machine.

She also felt that Shinji would probably come out as the victor in this confrontation. Some would say that was favoritism, and while he interested her and they got along well enough she was still a professional woman and as a teacher she wouldn't allow that to compromise her.

A trait Shinji liked but he kept that to himself.

No it wasn't favoritism but in the week they'd spent living together she knew that when Shinji did something he gave his one hundred percent. Whether it was cooking, studying or whatever it was that he did on his laptop he always tried his best. He also had told her a few days ago that, along with creating an A.I. he had helped a little in the development of his IS unit.

If he could do that much then she knew his piloting skills would be more than competent and against someone like Cecilia, who was very skilled but almost insufferably arrogant, he would win if anything because he would take her seriously from the beginning.

The door opened and she heard someone walk towards her and the others but she paid it no mind, it wasn't like they reserved this particular observation room after all. When the other person stopped beside her she turned to see who it was.

She expected a staff member or another student even but who was there was neither.

It was her best friend and her roommate's older adoptive sister, Tabane Shinonono in the flesh.

"What are you doing here Tabane?" She asked while managing to keep her voice even.

"Oh?" Tabane questioned with a tilt of the head, "is it so strange to come and see my little Shi-kun's first fight in his IS?"

"…No I suppose not."

"Good," Tabane nodded before motioning at the screen where Shinji's IS was now hovering in front of Cecilia's Blue Tears."

Monster

Demon

Those were the words Chifuyu would use describe her roommate's IS. It made her blood run cold, the machine just made her feel…wrong. That _thing_ was wrong, whatever inspired its appearance was something she hopped didn't actually exist, it didn't even feel like a machine to her.

"T-Tabane," Chifuyu muttered before turning to face her friend who had a smile that scared even her. "What the hell is that thing?"

"Ara?" Tabane said filled with glee, she had been looking forward to Shinji's debut in his IS. They had both worked on it after all, even though his contributions were relatively minor, it was an example to her of their bond as family. "It's Shi-kun's IS silly."

"Orimura-sensei they're about to begin!" Maya exclaimed and everyone returned their attention to the screen in front of them.

Tabane smiled, "Shi-kun's IS is a superiority-type designed for combat at all ranges and all types but tuned for his preference of close combat."

"I'm guessing it's a prototype 3rd Generation machine?" Chifuyu asked.

"What's its name?" Ichika asked while still watching the screen where the countdown to the start of the match had started.

Tabane shook her head at her best friend, " _that_ is Berserker, a prototype 4th Generation IS unit!"

 **NEXT ON BERSERKER - CHAPTER 3: VICTORY AND DEFEAT**

 **A/N**

Phew it's finally out!

To the many people who think I made a mistake with Yui's maiden name I know its Ikari. In the Rebuild movies her maiden name is Ayanami and not Ikari, in that universe Ikari is Gendo's last name. Personally I liked the way Ayanami sounded so I took some liberty and used it instead.

And how's that for a cliff hanger ending? Truthfully I never planned that to happen, I planned to have the fight in it's entirety to be in the chapter but I realized as I wrote that it wouldn't fit without making the chapter too long. So the fight will be in the beginning of the next chapter and with more space to work with I can throw in some stuff I originally planned to cut, having the fight depicted via multiple view points instead of just Shinji's.

So yeah what did you guys think? I wanted to show a bit more of Shinji's demons, while I intend for this to be a relatively light series it is still an Eva cross so I couldn't let him not have any negative effects from Impact.

I also wanted to show how the relationship between Shinji and Chifuyu will form, out of trust and curiosity. I want all members of Shinji's harem to develope their relationship a certain way. So Shinji feels he can trust Chifuyu the most and so he will share more secrets with her. Other members he may show his light hearted side more as he still finds Chifuyu a tad intimidating or he may relate more personally with someone else, etc.

As for Shinji revealing Iruel so soon I can see if some people have issues so I wanted to show Shinji's internal logic, and he won't go showing it off willy nilly mind you, Chifuyu, Ichika and Houki will be the only ones to know of her for a while.

So yeah, that;s all for now. Going to start on next chapter of **An Angel and His Wagtails** this weekend for those interested and followed by finishing **Toy Soldier** 's Bonus Chapter. After that I'll continue working on the first chapter of my **Eva x FSN** fic, **Eva x RWBY** fic and the next chapter of my **Naruto x Eva** fic if any of you all are curious about my schedule.

Well that's all for now, toodles!


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